South Africa’s top five retailers (Pick n Pay, Massmart, Spar, Woolworths and Shoprite) have a major role to play in shaping sustainable growth in the energy sector and need to champion South Africa’s transition to 100% renewable energy, according to the latest report launched by Greenpeace Africa.
The report ‘Shopping Clean – Retailers and Renewable Energy’ [1] marks the launch of a new Greenpeace campaign ‘Renewable Energy Champions’ initially aimed at getting the country’s top five retailers to show solar energy some love. The report outlines how retail companies in South Africa have made a start in the transition to 100% renewable energy. Most importantly, it details the current status of renewable energy investments and commitments from each of the top five retailers in South Africa. The retailers are ranked against one another on four key criteria – energy transparency, commitment to renewable energy, greenhouse gas mitigation and lobbying for clean renewable energy [2].
In the report, Woolworths ranks highest with an overall score of four out of ten. Woolworths and Pick n Pay currently have solar PV installations that contribute a small percentage of renewable energy to their overall operations. Massmart and Woolworths have both identified pilot solar PV projects for distribution centres and stores respectively that will be rolled out in 2016. Shoprite received the lowest ranking because of its lack of transparency with regard to the company’s energy information.
“Ranking the five retailers against one another makes it clear that none of them are doing particularly well when it comes to a commitment to a 100% renewable energy vision. Also, none of the retailers are engaged in active lobbying for the barriers to renewable energy to be removed, which is an essential step if a 100% vision is to be achieved, and this has heavily impacted on their scores” stated Penny-Jane Cooke, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Africa.
If the annual electricity consumption for each of the top five retailers is compared to the average electricity consumption of households in South Africa, Pick and Pay, for example, could liberate enough electricity to supply 65 000 households in South Africa by switching to 100% renewable energy. Woolworth’s electricity consumption is enough to power 55 000 households whilst Massmart could power 53 000 households. Collectively, the retailers can free up enough energy to power at least 178 400 households [3].
By switching to a 100% renewable energy, retailers will reduce their current electricity consumption, thus decreasing pressure on the grid and reducing the need for load shedding. Possibly most importantly of all, retailers will be opening up the space for millions of South Africans to generate their own power through lobbying government for better renewable energy legislation..
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Greenpeace.
Enquiries:
Angela Karnein: Email akarnein@greenpeace.org
Mbong Akiy. Email mbong.akiy@greenpeace.org
References
1. The Greenpeace Africa report Shopping Clean – Retailers and Renewable Energy is available online:
http://www.Greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/Climate/ENR/publications/Shopping_Clean_Retailers_and_Renewable_Energy.pdf
2. The retailer’s score ranking is available online:
http://www.Greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/Climate/ENR/RE_Champs_201604/Comparitive-Infograph-FOR-WEB.png
3. In making this estimate, it is important to note that the overall number of households quoted in this press release is lower than it should be. This is because zero information was available from Shoprite (which means that no households that could be powered by Shoprite are included), and because Spar has a different business model to the other retailers since the majority of their stores are franchised and the electricity consumption of franchises is not included in the figure used in the report, thus providing a very skewed view of Spar’s overall electricity consumption (which amounts to only 4 500 households).
