Growthpoint Properties (JSE: GRT), South Africa’s leading REIT (real estate investment trust), is transforming clean energy access for businesses in the country with its e-co₂ green electricity initiative, launching in October 2025.
e-co₂ provides Growthpoint’s tenants with three valuable benefits: certified zero-carbon electricity; blockchain registered Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs); and cost-saving fixed escalations on green electricity.
Growthpoint secured a landmark 195 GWh Power Purchase Agreement with Etana Energy as early as 2023, ensuring a supply mix of hydro, wind and solar power to underpin this effort.
E-co₂ will start by delivering renewable electricity to ten Growthpoint office buildings in Sandton. The first electrons of e-co₂ green electricity will be wheeled over the national grid from the Boston Hydroelectric Plant in Lesotho, newly developed in partnership with Serengeti Energy.
What makes this initiative truly groundbreaking is that with each unit of clean e-co₂ energy a Growthpoint tenant uses, they automatically get a digital REC. This is possible thanks to an innovative partnership with Fuel Switch, Africa’s first blockchain-enabled REC exchange.
Fuel Switch uses IoT, blockchain and AI to certify, track and monetise renewable energy consumption. From integrated smart meters to automated smart contracts, each unit of green e-co₂ energy a tenant uses is captured as an immutable digital REC that the tenant can access through their own secure digital wallet on the Fuel Switch platform.
This innovation opens up the voluntary REC market to South African business. It places Growthpoint’s tenants of all sizes are in a better position to meet stringent ESG and net-zero targets by redeeming their RECs as verified proof of Scope 2 carbon emission reduction for sustainability benefits. Or, if they’d prefer, to trade them for financial benefits on global renewable energy markets through the Fuel Switch platform.
Together, Growthpoint and its partners are setting a new standard for renewable energy access in commercial real estate in Africa. With a shared understanding that a vibrant and healthy green energy market is crucial for energy security and job creation, they also democratising green energy trading – the Fuel Switch platform can be used by any business or individual, globally.