A new EY Global EHS Maturity Study, released on August 21, 2025, lands with a clear message for African boardrooms: investment in Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) is rising fast, but the value will accrue to the companies that embed it in strategy, not those treating it as compliance overhead.
EY surveyed 526 C-suite leaders and EHS professionals across 34 countries and found that 78% plan to increase EHS spending over the next three years, with 75% channeling funds into digital systems and advanced analytics to strengthen risk management. Two-thirds (65%) already see EHS as a source of commercial value, from reputational gains to operational efficiency, yet only half say EHS is prioritized within long-term business strategy. That misalignment is costly: firms that invest strategically report greater resilience, with 52% saying EHS spending reduces the impact of disruptions and 67% crediting it for agility in uncertain times.
For Africa’s most exposed sectors; mining and metals, oil and gas, infrastructure and construction, agribusiness, logistics, and a rapidly expanding renewable power industry, the study’s findings are particularly salient. These are operations that often span remote sites, complex contractor ecosystems, and sensitive social and environmental contexts. When EHS is framed as a strategic capability rather than a defensive obligation, it becomes a lever for continuity, lower incident rates, faster restarts after shocks, stronger community trust, and lower cost of capital. EY’s data underscores that technology is now central to this shift: 64% of respondents already have an EHS platform in place and almost half (49%) are using AI in their EHS programs, while more than 80% say such tools help reveal blind spots and prevent serious incidents. Yet just 27% ranked technology investment among top priorities last year—evidence of the execution gap leaders must close if they want data-driven gains rather than dashboards that gather dust.
African developers and operators are not starting from zero. The continent’s leading financiers and regulators have tightened expectations in ways that nudge companies from narrow compliance to integrated practice. The African Development Bank’s updated Integrated Safeguards System (ISS), approved in April 2023 and effective since May 31, 2024—sets clearer requirements on environmental and social risk management across AfDB-financed projects, and is already shaping government capacity-building and implementer behavior from North Africa to the Sahel. For sponsors and contractors that internalize ISS-aligned processes early, the bid room and the boardroom both become more welcoming places.
Beyond the regional anchor, international capital brings its own discipline. The IFC Performance Standards and the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Framework remain the reference points for lenders and equity investors in African infrastructure and industry, setting expectations on impact assessment, labor and working conditions, community engagement, biodiversity, and pollution prevention. Aligning internal EHS management systems to these frameworks is not simply “project hygiene”; it is a ticket to bankability, syndication, and long-term operations. Companies that treat the standards as a strategic architecture, rather than a box-ticking exercise, find it easier to scale programs, harmonize contractor performance, and withstand scrutiny from auditors, media, and communities alike.
Trade dynamics add another layer of urgency. The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will progressively impose a carbon price on imports of carbon-intensive goods, starting with sectors such as iron and steel, cement, fertilizers, aluminum, electricity and hydrogen. For African exporters, this is not a distant policy debate but a near-term, data-heavy requirement that will penalize opacity and reward robust measurement and management of emissions and process risks.
South Africa’s government has already flagged concerns at the WTO level, underscoring how consequential CBAM could be for continental trade and industrial policy. Companies that invest now in high-quality EHS and environmental data systems, capable of granular emissions accounting and verifiable controls, will protect market access and turn compliance into competitiveness.
The digital thread running through EY’s study is especially relevant for African operating realities. Dispersed worksites, multi-tier subcontracting, fast-moving construction programs, and a younger, mobile-first workforce make the continent a fertile ground for leapfrogging legacy EHS processes. Platforms that integrate incident reporting, learning management, permit-to-work, contractor onboarding, and environmental monitoring can condense lag times from weeks to hours.
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AI models trained on local incident narratives and sensor data can flag leading indicators, heat stress patterns, vehicle near misses, tailings anomalies, or recurring confined-space risks, before they become life-changing events. But technology is only as effective as the governance around it. EY’s research makes this plain: without leadership that elevates EHS onto the strategy agenda, funds it predictably, and links it to enterprise risk and performance, digital tools won’t deliver the promised step change.
What does “embedding EHS in strategy” look like in practice for African firms?
It starts with board oversight and executive ownership that position EHS alongside finance, operations, and commercial as a core driver of value. It means integrating EHS metrics into capital allocation and procurement, so contractors and suppliers are selected on the strength of their systems, not just their price. It requires robust data architectures that align with lender and buyer expectations, from the AfDB’s ISS through to IFC and World Bank standards, so audits become an exercise in validation rather than discovery.
It demands workforce capability, frontline training, supervisor coaching, and credible channels for worker voice, because the best analytics in the world cannot compensate for weak culture on the ground. And it calls for genuine community engagement, treating social performance as a relationship to be maintained, not a set of meetings to be held.
There is also a reputational dividend at stake. EY’s study notes that public institutions and NGOs explicitly link EHS to trust, and private firms are hardly different in the eyes of their stakeholders. In African markets where industrial sites sit close to communities, the line between incident prevention and social license can be thin. Transparent reporting, swift corrective action, and a habit of learning out loud can preserve that license through construction delays, commodity downturns, or regulatory shifts. Put simply, companies that invest in EHS as a strategic asset buy resilience cheaply compared to the cost of crisis response.
The headline numbers from EY’s study are encouraging: budgets are rising, digital adoption is climbing, and executives increasingly see the business case, but value will accrue in proportion to strategy. For African companies facing lender safeguards, evolving trade rules, and intense operational realities, the opportunity is to turn this wave of EHS spending into a durable competitive advantage, one built on safer people, cleaner operations, stronger communities, and better access to capital.
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