The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) continues to play a pivotal role in advancing sustainable infrastructure development through its partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as the implementing agency for the project with the DBSA being the lead implementing agency and the City of Johannesburg (COJ) as the executing agency. This project supports the COJ’s long-term sustainability goals, aligning with the development of national and global climate strategies. This flagship initiative in Johannesburg is demonstrating how strategic investments in urban sustainability can deliver tangible benefits for communities while addressing climate change and environmental challenges.

The GEF-funded programme, Advancing Energy Access and Climate Resilience, incorporates several key levers of system transformation across its five core components, each designed to address Johannesburg’s critical environmental challenges and promote long-term sustainability. Collectively, the five components of this programme utilise levers of sustainable infrastructure development, policy reform, circular economy practices, private sector engagement, and data-driven governance to create a holistic and scalable model for urban resilience. Collectively, they aim to improve resource efficiency, waste management, urban planning, and social equity, fostering a transformative shift towards a sustainable and resilient COJ. This programme is an integrated approach for the COJ to drive a comprehensive consideration of the city’s specific environmental challenges, existing policy frameworks, and institutional capacities. This approach aligns with South Africa’s national priorities and the COJ’s municipal strategies, ensuring targeted and effective interventions. 

The DBSA is responsible for the biodegradable waste management and biogas pilot, which introduces circular economy principles as a core transformation lever. This component specifically focuses on integrating gender-sensitive biodegradable waste management strategies, including waste separation at the source, constructing and operating a waste-to-biogas pilot plant, and feasibility studies for city-wide implementation. This component aligns with the DBSA's strategy of supporting environmentally sustainable projects and promoting regional integration and cooperation. The waste-to-biogas plant at Robinson Deep landfill is a key example of this, addressing the environmental hazard of methane generation from decommissioned landfills while exploring alternative waste management strategies. The project comprises five synergistic components designed to advance sustainable urban development in Johannesburg through a holistic, multisectoral approach. It prioritises integrating sustainability principles into the city’s physical planning processes while embedding gender-sensitive and resource-efficient guidelines to improve the long-term viability of social housing initiatives. 

Earlier this year, the GEF hosted the Expanded Constituency Workshop, bringing together Southern African government officials, multilateral agencies, and civil society to strategise on advancing environmental action. Lebogang Seperepere, Acting Group Executive: Project Preparation at DBSA, emphasised the importance of global partnerships in achieving sustainable development.

“The DBSA is committed to working with global partners like the GEF to address the twin challenges of environmental degradation and climate change. By leveraging our expertise in financing and infrastructure development, we can ensure that projects not only protect our planet but also uplift our communities.”

Through this event, the DBSA and the UNEP were able to demonstrate how integrated urban planning can drive multiple community benefits. The event included site visits to the various projects to provide on-the-ground context to the GEF-financed programme interventions. Participants were allowed to engage the implementation partners and local stakeholders to learn how the project addresses multiple urban sustainability challenges. Implement innovative and integrated solutions and generate lessons for Johannesburg and other cities in South Africa to become sustainable and resilient. The site visit to Robinson Deep (Waste to Energy: Biodegradable Waste Plant) enabled participants in a guided walk to observe various parts of the project site and gain a comprehensive understanding of its operations and its intended outcomes. The project will utilise primarily source-separating fruit and vegetable waste feedstock, ensuring a sustainable and efficient approach to waste management. The project utilises mesophilic anaerobic digestion to process 50 tons per day of waste, producing biogas that yields 340 KWe of renewable energy and enhances environmental sustainability. The participants also had the opportunity to visit the Roodepoort’s Tshedzani Phase 3 (Social Housing Development), Siyakhana Gardens (Food Resilience) and the Joburg Market (Food Security).

By 2025, this project's impact will extend beyond infrastructure, establishing replicable sustainability and resilience standards for Johannesburg and other cities. Aligning with the Kyoto Protocol's emissions reduction goals, the DBSA supports this project and others through climate finance and environmentally sound infrastructure, promoting renewable energy and climate resilience.

The DBSA remains steadfast in its mission to drive sustainable finance solutions and build strategic partnerships that accelerate Africa’s transition to a greener, more resilient future. By championing projects like this, the Bank is setting a precedent for urban sustainability that can be scaled across the continent.