Afezekile Moko, Ntwanano Hlekane
Abstract
South Africa has advocated green building standards for nearly a decade while property owners have cited the economic difficulties of investing in environmentally sustainable initiatives. However, commercial buildings are becoming increasingly eco-friendly. Due to infrastructure deterioration South Africa is experiencing an electricity shortage. Corporations must comprehend the economic effects of load shedding. This study investigates the synergy between load shedding and ESG in the concept of sustainable commercial buildings to examine whether the load shedding crisis promotes green features in such traditional buildings. This qualitative study investigated whether load shedding and ESG techniques impacted the incorporation of green features in traditional commercial building refurbishments. Secondary data from GBCSA, CSRHub, S&P Global, and SAPOA were included in the study. According to the research load shedding accelerated conversion of traditional commercial buildings to green features. This was by a small margin which suggests that both ESG and load shedding are drivers of the conversion. To mitigate the negative impact of the economic crisis on business operations the increased adoption of sustainable features in traditional commercial buildings was a fundamental evaluation. This exhibits the resilience of organisations and could contribute to the development of comprehensive sustainability policies. Future research on the ideologies of policymakers regarding ESG factors and load shedding may be explored.