Cape Town’s green economy partnership delivers investment, jobs and global recognition
Statement by Alderman James Vos, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth
The City of Cape Town congratulates GreenCape on being named Impact Intermediary of the Year at the African Impact Investment Awards, announced on 11 June 2026 at the Africa Impact Summit in Lusaka, Zambia.
This recognition is particularly significant because the judges specifically acknowledged the partnership between GreenCape and the City of Cape Town as a contributing factor to GreenCape’s success. Their recognition provides independent validation of a long-standing partnership that has consistently focused on strengthening Cape Town’s economy, supporting business competitiveness, attracting investment and creating opportunities for residents.
For many years, the City has partnered with GreenCape because of its proven ability to strengthen Cape Town’s green economy ecosystem and address challenges that affect economic growth and industrial competitiveness. This award provides welcome recognition of an approach that continues to deliver tangible benefits for Cape Town’s businesses, entrepreneurs, investors and communities.
Strengthening Cape Town’s economy through partnership
The City supports this partnership because it helps create the conditions for investment, innovation, business growth and job creation.
By bringing together business, investors, academia and government, the partnership helps address barriers that affect industrial competitiveness and economic growth. Through publicly accessible research, market intelligence, industry collaboration and knowledge-sharing initiatives, businesses are better equipped to identify opportunities, respond to emerging challenges and remain competitive.
The outputs generated through this work are made freely available to businesses, SMMEs, investors, researchers and industry stakeholders, ensuring that the benefits extend across the broader economy.
This is ultimately an investment in Cape Town’s economic future, helping position Cape Town as one of Africa’s leading destinations for business and green economy investment.
Delivering investment, jobs and competitiveness
The results of this partnership speak for themselves.
Since its establishment in 2010, GreenCape has facilitated approximately R70 billion in green economy investment and supported the creation of approximately 22 000 jobs across South Africa.
Over the five-year period from 2020 to 2025 alone, GreenCape’s City-supported programmes facilitated more than R7,4 billion in investment, leveraged nearly R100 million in additional funding, supported 1 242 SMMEs, hosted more than 100 industry events, facilitated over 1 000 industry and stakeholder engagements, and generated publicly accessible market intelligence resources that have been downloaded more than 30 000 times.
These outcomes demonstrate the value of investing in initiatives that strengthen the broader economic ecosystem and create the conditions necessary for businesses to grow, invest and create employment opportunities.
A key focus of the partnership has been strengthening the competitiveness and resilience of Cape Town’s industrial base.
This work is becoming even more important as international markets introduce new sustainability and carbon-related trade measures. These measures will increasingly influence market access and competitiveness for exporters around the world. Through GreenCape’s research, market intelligence and industry engagement initiatives, Cape Town’s businesses and industrial areas are becoming better prepared for these changes, helping to protect export opportunities, attract investment and position the local economy for future growth.
Building new industries and opportunities
One of the partnership’s flagship successes is the Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP), which is supported by the City of Cape Town and implemented by GreenCape in collaboration with industry partners. The programme helps businesses transform waste streams into productive economic inputs, reducing costs while creating new economic opportunities.
Through WISP, about 146 000 tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfill, more than 435 000 tonnes of carbon emissions have been avoided, over R155 million in financial benefits have been generated for participating businesses, and hundreds of jobs have been supported.
The programme has received international recognition on multiple occasions. In 2021, the City of Cape Town received a Medal of Honour at the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation for its partnership with WISP, placing Cape Town among the leading examples of urban innovation globally. More recently, WISP was featured by The Earthshot Prize and Arup as a leading example of how cities can use circular economy principles to reduce waste, strengthen industrial competitiveness and create new economic opportunities.
The partnership is also helping to unlock emerging industries that have significant future growth potential. One example is the growing Black Soldier Fly industry, which converts organic waste into valuable products such as animal feed ingredients, protein products and organic fertilisers.
Importantly, these opportunities are creating new pathways for entrepreneurs, SMMEs and young people seeking to participate in growing sectors of the economy. This partnership is helping to create the industries, businesses and jobs that will drive future economic growth.
International recognition for a successful partnership
GreenCape’s recognition as Impact Intermediary of the Year provides independent validation of a partnership that has consistently delivered measurable economic outcomes.
They also specifically recognised the City of Cape Town partnership and noted that GreenCape had generated approximately R140 in investment for every R1 invested by the City.
This latest achievement builds on a growing body of international recognition associated with the City-GreenCape partnership and demonstrates the value of long-term collaboration in strengthening competitiveness, attracting investment, supporting businesses and creating economic opportunities.
I congratulate GreenCape, its Board, management team, staff and partners on this well-deserved achievement. We look forward to building on the success of a partnership that continues to deliver investment, jobs and economic opportunities for the people of Cape Town.
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
