Kenya targets Renewable Energy self-sufficiency

By Rawlexx79

Kenya targets to attain a 100% transition to green energy by 2020 – as it scales-up its investments in renewable energy.

This is to address the climate change challenge concretely, Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta has said.

Kenyatta pointed out that renewable energy makes up 70% of Kenya’s installed electric power capacity.

He added that the aggressive investments to reach this figure have also been triggered by the country’s increasing population, which is served by the electricity grid – to more than 60%

“Our target is to attain 100% green energy sufficiency by 2020. We will do this while we achieve 100% access to power for our population, and sharply lower costs to industry to aid our manufacturing push,” Kenyatta said.

Kenyatta spoke during a roundtable discussion on – ‘Don’t drop climate efforts’ session of the Paris Peace Forum in France.

Speaking alongside Presidents Omar Guelleh of Djibouti and Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, President Kenyatta said Kenya’s investment in green energy is proof that doing the right thing is more than a cost, but rather a chance to offer immense opportunities for business growth and enhancement of citizens’ quality of life.

He challenged governments of industrialised countries, especially in Europe, where sustainability has been embraced – to support such investments in green energy in Africa.

Kenyatta said doing so would help mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change while delivering the jobs and opportunities that will strengthen security and stability on the continent and the world.

“To do even more, we need support from the Green Climate Fund and other mechanisms to enhance our green energy capabilities and accelerate adaptation and mitigation of the impact of climate change,” Kenyatta said.

He emphasised that Kenya is open for business in the manufacturing of green technologies and will work hard to enable investors in this field to thrive.

Kenyatta added that Kenya is implementing the commitments it has made under the major international instruments and believes that every country should do the same.

He spoke of the need for multilateralism to make its mark in solving major challenges ranging from insecurity, the fascism of global Jihadism, and the effects of climate change.

The president said climate change is not an abstract threat in a far-off future, but a defining security and development challenge of our time.

He observed that although African countries were nowhere close to being one of the top producers of greenhouse emissions, they are nevertheless, champions of sustainability because they know the painful price of inaction in the face of the climate change reality.

“It is driving patterns of movement and reaction to unusual and destructive weather patterns that are leading to mass violence, lost livelihoods, and a resulting appetite for large-scale migration,” the President said.

He added: “Africans are living this as a reality, and scientific evidence shows that Africa may continue to bear the greatest brunt of climate change.”

President Kenyatta expressed optimism that leaders across the world have an opportunity to show their commitment by ensuring that they adopt a comprehensive programme of work that will operationalize the Paris Agreement when their countries meet at the 24th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in a few weeks’ time.

Noting that the world marks 100 years since the end of the First World War, Kenyatta said humanity has learnt a severe lesson that the lack of a strong multilateral system that can resolve conflicts and deliver solutions to cross-border challenges – is a huge risk.

“We learnt terrible lessons in the past century when we sought to walk alone, rather than join hands in the enlightened solidarity of multilateralism,” the President said.

He also invited leaders to attend the first ever Global Conference on Sustainable Blue Economy on November 26-28 that Kenya, Canada and Japan are co-hosting in Nairobi.

“We are meeting to find concrete ways to collaborate on sustainably creating the blue economies that will deliver millions of jobs and food security throughout the world,” he said.

Source: African Strategic-Ventures (ASV) & The Exchange.

 

 

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