South Africa's Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regulations were made mandatory by the National Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in December 2020, requiring existing public sector buildings greater than 1000m² and private sector buildings greater than 2000m² to obtain an EPC. The initial compliance deadline was set for December 2022, but it has been recently extended to December 2025.
EPCs are used to compare the energy efficiency of buildings against benchmark performance in each climatic region of South Africa. They help to raise awareness of the energy efficiency opportunities available to building owners, which can lead to cost and carbon emission reductions.
Reducing energy consumption in South Africa is crucial for addressing the country's energy crisis, as well as meeting its climate change targets under the Paris Agreement. Buildings account for around 15% of South Africa's greenhouse gas emissions inventory, making energy efficiency in buildings an important part of the decarbonisation challenge.
"Energy efficiency in buildings is a good low-hanging fruit to target in terms of getting the ball rolling towards South Africa’s climate change targets," says Lisa Reynolds, CEO of the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA).
However, due to a shortage of South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accredited EPC inspection bodies, only a fraction of the estimated 200,000-300,000 buildings requiring an EPC have obtained one. This has limited the ability of the EPC mechanism to meet its objectives.
To address this issue, the Carbon Trust and the GBCSA have been assisting the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) with operationalising the EPC mechanism since early 2021, through a South Africa-UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) funded project. Technical assistance and training related activities have been provided to stakeholders throughout the EPC ecosystem. Five SMEs have been supported in becoming EPC Inspection Bodies.
Until now, most inspection bodies were larger consulting and engineering companies, but allowing SMEs to become inspection bodies is important for ensuring that the EPC mechanism can contribute to a Just Energy Transition by creating green economy skills and jobs, especially for historically disadvantaged persons. All five SMEs supported are owned by historically disadvantaged persons, and three of them are also woman-owned.
By providing training on key regulations and standards, guidance on the development management system manuals, and by covering SANAS accreditation and registration fees, this South Africa-UK PACT funded project has now firmly placed each of these SMEs on the pathway to becoming SANAS accredited Inspection Bodies.
According to Carbon Trust project manager, Jonathan Booth, "Truly realising a Just Energy Transition will require empowerment opportunities to be identified and developed at every turn. The Carbon Trust hopes that this project provides other energy and climate actors with a concrete example of how this can be done."
One of the SMEs that has benefited from this project is Dumaliwe whose owner stated, "Without the support provided by the Carbon Trust, GBCSA and UK PACT, it’s unlikely that we would have had the resources to overcome the barriers to becoming an accredited inspection body. The opportunity to create jobs and improve the resilience of our small company would have been lost."
