Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with East Africa’s leading water and energy solutions provider Davis & Shirtliff to launch Kenya’s first sustainable financing instrument to support a green, low-carbon and resilient future. The partnership which is aimed at supporting individual clients’ transition to cleaner technologies, harness and scales more climate-friendly business practices was launched two days ago and was broadcasted live on their Facebook Pages.
The deal will see Standard Chartered Bank extend credit facilities to its huge customer base at discounted rates to enable them to acquire solar energy and water treatment equipment from Davis & Shirtliff. The bank will avail a 12-month repayment by installment plan while Davis & Shirtliff will in turn offer up to 25% discounts on the products under this portfolio.
“We’re partnering with Davis & Shirtliff to introduce the first sustainable finance retail product that will help improve the livelihoods of retail clients across Africa. Standard Chartered will offer discounted personal loans and credit cards to both existing and new clients to finance solar water heaters and water treatment solutions,” said Standard Chartered Kenya CEO, Ngari Kariuki.
“We hope that these products will help our client’s transition to renewables and help facilitate the access to clean water and sanitation,’’ he added.
Davis & Shirtliff will offer the equipment at discounted prices to encourage more people to take up and adopt the use of cleaner and sustainable energy solutions.
“Environmental protection is critical to life and to create a more sustainable world. However, due to severe factors from climate change, urbanization, pollution, and other factors, millions of lives are at risk and holding back social and economic progress. However, the opportunity to mitigate these issues through innovation and shared purpose is also growing,” said Davis & Shirtliff CEO, David Gatende.
Davis & Shirtliff has lined up its range of smart equipment including, Ultrasun UFS Flat plate solar hot water systems available in various tank sizes and collector configurations to suit domestic and small-scale institutional applications. The company will also offer customers affordable prices to its range of smart water purifiers for home and industrial use.
“By encouraging the uptake of smart solutions, we improve livelihoods by enhancing the quality of life by ensuring the masses have affordable power and clean water. These are key drivers to lifting up economies from poverty,” said Gatende.
Standard Chartered Bank will structure affordable personal loans for improvement of existing green projects to all its clients who are conscious of climate change and are already servicing their mortgage facilities or currently processing home loans with the lender. It will also consider clients seeking to improve their apartments whether rented or owned and those building their homes.
“When you look at access to electricity, 36 percent of Kenyans have no access to electricity. It’s actually estimated that the cost of using electric water heaters accounts for over 33 percent of the average household electricity bill. There is therefore a need and a huge opportunity for private sector investment in affordable solar energy and water treatment. This is especially important now with the advent of Covid-19 which requires access to clean water and reduced costs of living,” said Standard Chartered Bank, Kenya CEO, Ngari Kariuki.
The partnership will also extend funding to government, media, and climate change advocates as it seeks to support the government’s directive issued last year, requiring all developers to install solar panels in their buildings.
“We understand that a lot of collaboration and partnerships are needed to meet sustainable development and investments. As a bank, we have a conscious decision to drive such partnerships that provide sustainable solutions to our clients and also support the public and private sectors to achieve the UN SDG’s,” said Kariuki.
Climate change is hitting harder and accelerating faster, efforts to meet commitments to limit global warming are slipping, with many countries veering off course. The cost of managing climate resilience is projected to continue rising to Shillings 2-5 trillion ($20-50 billion) by mid-century, and closer to Shillings 10 Trillion ($100 billion) in the event of a 4°C warming according to the latest report by the World Economic Forum.
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