Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation

Nova supports scalable, community-led responses to the challenges of climate change — both in adapting to current and future impacts, and in reducing emissions through tangible, low-tech, and locally appropriate solutions.

This work spans a wide range of contexts and approaches. Current and past initiatives include a feasibility study in partnership with Scientific Services (Kruger National Park) exploring how environmental footprint offsetting can deliver tangible benefits to local communities; a feasibility study with the Water Research Commission on integrating decentralised sanitation technologies into smallholder and household contexts; and community-based waste management projects aimed at eliminating the open burning of domestic waste.

These examples reflect the breadth of Nova’s internal expertise and the organisation’s ability to contribute meaningfully to diverse climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. The case studies below highlight two of Nova’s longer-running, high-impact projects — one focused on reducing emissions, and the other on improving resilience and food security.

Climate Mitigation Case Study: Cookstove Projects and Carbon Credits
Nova has played a pioneering role in the development of climate mitigation projects that reduce emissions at the household level – most notably through its improved cookstove programmes.

  • Nova was the first organisation in South Africa to be issued with Gold Standard carbon credits
  • Nearly 100,000 household implementations have been completed, lowering emissions and reducing air pollution.
  • Nova has developed an end-to-end digital methodology for the generation of carbon credits from household-level cookstove projects.

These initiatives are designed with local usage patterns in mind and aim not only to reduce carbon emissions, but to do so in a way that fits into people’s lives, without making daily tasks more difficult. Improving efficiency, safety, and cost while reducing emissions remains a core aim of Nova’s mitigation work.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) notes that effective climate adaptation in developing countries often requires addressing multiple, interlinked stressors simultaneously. Fruit trees planting initiatives can do just that – improve dietary diversity, reduce household expenditure on food, and strengthen resilience to climate stressors such as drought, heat, and soil degradation. Nova works with communities to ensure that such interventions are not only technically sound, but locally owned, ecologically appropriate, and designed for long-term sustainability. In the Greater Tzaneen municipality in the Mopani district of Limpopo, Nova implemented a multi-phase fruit tree initiative with participating households across several villages.

  • In the first phase (2014–2015), subsidised fruit trees (primarily avocado, litchi, macadamia, and citrus) were provided, accompanied by basic training. A decade later, follow-up assessments revealed a 52% survival rate among the 1,334 trees planted. Households reported improved access to fresh fruit (including 47% reporting sharing with neighbours), reduced reliance on store-bought produce, and increased self-sufficiency.
  • In 2024, Nova relaunched the project, incorporating lessons from earlier work. Households contributed 55% of the tree cost and were required to dig the 1x1x1m planting holes in advance. Higher-quality trees were sourced, and training was revised to address known challenges, such as termite damage and poor soil conditions.

The early results of this revised approach are promising. Of the 480 trees planted, 459 (96%) were confirmed alive one month after planting, with relatively low early-stage mortality. Training uptake was strong, and participants reported improved understanding of tree care practices, including mulching and pest management.

This case shows how Nova’s approach to food systems and ecosystem resilience can deliver real, lasting benefits at both household and community level. A project design document (PDD) has been developed to support the generation of adaptation and biodiversity credits, creating a way to recognise the full value of these interventions. Nova is now exploring opportunities to expand this work to other regions and communities.

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”