The business case for reducing carbon emissions

Reducing carbon emissions is increasingly becoming a business imperative, according to Dom Chennells, CFO of SOLA Future Energy.

He said the introduction of tax incentives and the possibility of a carbon tax on the horizon leads to reducing greenhouse gas emissions making good business sense.

With a view to enable South Africa to meet its commitments in term of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the government has touted the introduction of a carbon tax from next January.

“If companies focus on the ‘carrot’ rather than the ‘stick’, they will truly be able to appreciate the benefits of implementing carbon-reducing energy solutions such as solar power,” explains Chennells.

“Cost drivers for many businesses are likely to be the ones that produce the most greenhouse gases, such as fossil-fuel generated electricity, business travel and waste disposal.”

Tax incentives

To date, tax incentives have been introduced to encourage companies to “go green". The Income Tax Act, for instance, allows a company to claim deductions of 95c per kilowatt-hour of energy-efficiency savings made within a year against a verified 12-month baseline.

It also makes provision for an accelerated wear and tear allowance for movable assets used in the production of renewable energy. This amounts to a 28% deduction in a firm’s income tax in the year in which the asset is brought into use and can be claimed against the entire capital spend of electricity generating assets - including a number of renewable energy technologies - up to 1MW in generating capacity.

He said that, while solar power generation has not yet become ubiquitous in SA, there are several sectors embracing this approach. Retail property developments, for example, have been early adopters, partly because there is a strong correlation between when they use their energy and when the system can generate the most power.

“The returns they are able to generate from investing in solar systems far exceed the 10% and 12% return expectation that investors typically expect from long term property ownership,” Chennells pointed out.

He said the widespread adoption of green energy will be bolstered by regulatory certainty around the use of embedded energy generation.

As things stand, proposed new restrictions could stifle the uptake of renewable energy systems, in his view. Draft rules that were published this year state that a generation facility with more than 1 MW of installed capacity would have to apply for a generation license in addition to registering with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).

“Although some issues must be resolved, there are numerous companies poised to deliver solutions that are good for the environment and good for business,” Chennells concluded.

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