Green Circle Solutions is expanding internationally with the launch of Green Circle Solutions Africa.
Based in Cape Town and led by sustainability and events specialist Gary van der Watt, GCS Africa will offer the company’s trusted suite of SaaS based carbon calculators, ESG benchmarking and sustainability support tailored to the realities of the African market.
The new business launches at a time when many African organisations are beginning to look more closely at their environmental and social impact, but often lack practical, relevant tools to help them understand where they stand and what to do next.
“While South Africa was an early leader in event greening and sustainability forums, awareness of carbon footprinting and more detailed ESG reporting remains behind many international markets,” said Gary van der Watt, Director of Green Circle Solutions Africa
“This is particularly true in the events industry, where existing tools often take a broad-brush approach and fail to capture the full picture,” he added.
Green Circle Solutions Africa aims to change that.
Green Circle Solutions will be bringing its suite designed specifically for events and experiential activity which drill down into areas often overlooked, including staff travel, visitor transport, logistics, reuse, stand design, and wider life cycle impacts.
Gary van der Watt said: “Too many businesses think sustainability is about making dramatic changes or spending more money. It is not. In most cases, it is about understanding where you are today and making small, smarter decisions that create a better result.
“While significant strides have been made in physical sustainable design—such as the transition toward reusable engineered materials—the industry has critically lacked accessible, accurate data metrics. Green Circle Solutions Africa bridges this gap by providing event organizers with the exact software needed to quantify their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in strict alignment with global standards.”
The business will initially focus on corporate clients in sectors where ESG expectations are growing fastest, including financial services, healthcare and sporting goods. It will also work with events, exhibitions and visitor-based industries, including the wine sector, where organisations are increasingly interested in understanding the environmental impact of visitor travel alongside commercial return.
The approach is designed to reflect the particular ESG challenges and opportunities across Africa.
While environmental issues matter, businesses are also balancing concerns around employment, affordability, local supply chains and skills shortages. In many cases, sustainable choices are judged not only by their carbon impact, but by whether they create jobs, support local communities and improve long-term financial resilience.
For example, South Africa has a long-established culture of reusing materials, with exhibition panels and stands often reused dozens or even hundreds of times. In Europe, the same assets may be replaced after only a handful of uses for aesthetic reasons, Gary explained.
GCS Africa believes this local mindset offers an important advantage.
Said David Humphreys Founder & Director at Green Circle Solutions: “We are delighted to partner with Gary and his team. Expansion has always been a key business strategy, and we look forward to working together. Rather than simply importing international standards, GCS Africa will help clients recognise and build on what they are already doing well, while also identifying opportunities to improve.”
Gary van der Watt added: “South Africa already has many of the right behaviours. We reuse more. We repair more. We make more locally. The challenge is that businesses often do not see those things as sustainability because they have never measured them.
“The first step is not to chase a perfect score. It is to benchmark where you are, understand what matters most and then set realistic targets. Many businesses will discover they are doing some things brilliantly already, while others may realise they are not as green as they thought.”
Green Circle Solutions Africa will operate as a standalone business while benefiting from the expertise, technology and international reputation of Green Circle Solutions.
The partnership is expected to create new opportunities for South African businesses to access world-class sustainability support, insights and to exchange best practices and learning that can be shared globally.