One of South Africa’s four leading banks has urged corporate giants to be more pro-active in implementing environmentally friendly practices.

Nedbank has been recognised as the leading corporate in Africa in terms of its environmental practices.

CEO Tom Boardman said he believed there was more "green pressure" on South African companies following the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

Boardman said South Africa was currently one of the developing world’s worst polluters.

“Sadly South Africa, due to the world’s economy is a developing country, but per capita we have one of the highest CO_² outputs in the world. Primarily because of coal driven electricity and energy,” said Boardman.

He added that big corporates had to focus more on reducing their carbon footprints.