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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) recognizes Novare’s commitment to designing resource efficient buildings with EDGE.
Johannesburg, South Africa,– Novare Group (Novare), the investment solutions provider with a property portfolio across the African continent, has achieved EDGE Champion status from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank due to its commitment to EDGE certifying 100% of its building portfolio. This recognition was awarded at the API Summit Award networking event on October 10th, 2023.
Created by IFC, EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) is a green building certification system used in more than 140 countries that empowers developers and investors to easily determine the most cost-effective ways to build green. It sets out to reduce the environmental impact of buildings in direct energy consumption, water consumption, and the carbon footprint of construction materials.
To obtain certification, a project must achieve at least 20% savings in energy, water and materials, taking a local construction model case as a baseline. The certification process can begin during a project’s design stage, but its principles can also be applied once upgrades to a building have been made.
Novare achieved the EDGE Champion recognition as a result of its commitment to decarbonizing its portfolio of properties in Nigeria, Zambia, and Mozambique, with two buildings in Zambia already EDGE-certified. The company has pledged to play its part in accelerating the adoption of green building practices, contributing to building a framework of collaboration for its portfolio to move to a lower-carbon, more resource-efficient operational model.
With two properties in Zambia already EDGE-certified, Novare is turning its attention to its shopping malls and office buildings in Nigeria next, as it positions this portfolio to become a locally listed real estate investment trust (REIT), leading in sustainability and environment-minded operation.
“Achieving EDGE Champion status affirms our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our buildings, and clearly signals to our investors and tenants that Novare is committed to environmental accountability,” says Lerato Kumalo, Novare’s Chief Environmental, Social, Governance and Impact Officer.
“While we have already made significant progress in improving the sustainability of the buildings in our portfolio, our journey along this path is set to continue as we continue to invest in our properties to align them with investors’ and tenants’ triple bottom line,” she adds. “Our discerning tenants expect nothing less – and we are delighted to partner with them and with EDGE to reduce our collective impact on the environment.”
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About Novare
Novare Equity Partners is an investment adviser exclusively focusing on Real Estate and Private Equity investing in sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa. We are a subsidiary of Novare Holdings, an investment solutions provider with operations across the African continent.
For more information, visit www.novare.com
About EDGE
An IFC innovation, EDGE helps developers build and certify their buildings as green quickly, easily, and affordably. EDGE is supported by free software that promotes solutions to reduce energy, water, and energy used to manufacture building materials by at least 20 percent, which is the standard for EDGE certification. The program has been generously supported by the following donors: Austria, Canada, Denmark, EU, Finland, GEF, Hungary, Japan, Switzerland, and UK. For more information, visit www.edgebuildings.com.
