Eosta Groenheuwel solar panels South Africa citrus

Solar panels at Groenheuwel in South Africa Image: Nature & More (YouTube)

Eosta has announced that its partnership withcitrus grower Groenheuwel in South Africa has reached the finals of the Eco-Logic Climate Change Award, having been revealed by Enviropaedia in South Africa on Wednesday (1 September).

André and Madaléne Spangenberg have been producing organic oranges, grapefruits, mandarins and lemons for Eosta/Nature & More on their farm Groenheuwel since 2001.

They were nominated for the Climate Change Award because the organic cultivationmethodproduces less CO2 and sequesters more carbon in the soil, Eosta noted.

In 2020, André had installed no fewer than 2,775 solar panels on his land, producing 2,393 MWh of energy per year. The group's large warehouse now runs largely on solar energy.

Soil & More Impacts in Hamburg calculated that the production of organic citrus for Eosta in 2020 had saved around 280,000kg of CO2, compared with conventional cultivation.

The savings in electricity consumption – thanks to the solar panels – amounted to 2.3m kg of CO2per year. Comnbined, this totalled 2.6m kg CO2 emissions saved per year.

The winners of the Eco-Logic Awards will be announced at the COP26 climate conference in early November. There are finalists in several categories such as nature conservation and waste reduction.

See more in this video from Nature & More