Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) led a delegation of over 50 corporate leaders towards signing a 10-point charter during the Corporate Commitment to Climate Change conference, dubbed the 4C-K, held on Wednesday at Strathmore University. The event was organized by KCIC in partnership with IKEA Foundation, Kenya Private sector Alliance (KEPSA), Nation Media Group (NMG), Kenya Climate Innovation Center Consulting Limited (KCL), AMREF Health In Kenya, and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). In addition, corporate leaders from the private sector, including UNEP, Safaricom, KCL, KEPSA, KCIC, led by the Ambassador Royal Danish Embassy, Kenya H.E Ole Thonke, were present to affirm their commitment to curb climate change.
During the event, Group Chief Executive Officer, KCIC, Dr. Edward Mungai, said that the commitments will eventually become good business for the private sector even though more action is needed. The CEO also added that despite climate change being one of the biggest threats to humanity, it also creates many opportunities, “In 2018 Kenya had financial flows for climate change worth $2.5Billion out of which only less than 10% was coming from the private sector”. He encouraged the private sector to tap the opportunities and make it a good business by investing in capacity building, thus growing adaptation funding. “The time for working in Silos is gone; we must now be able to collaboratively work,” affirmed the CEO.
On his part, the Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy, Kenya H.E Ole Thonke, applauded KCIC on the excellent work it has been doing on climate change mitigation and adaptation through the years. “As Denmark, we are proud of our partnership with KCIC. It has been amazing to observe KCIC grow from a start-up and now to a significant actor in the sphere of sustainable development.” He also asked the private sector to work together to achieve climate change targets, “If we are to get anywhere on the journey of climate change, we need the private sector to be much more engaged even at a global level,” he added.
The inaugural event, which is the first one in the country, comes when the world is converging at Glasgow, UK, for COP26 to make climate change declarations, with one of the agendas being to champion for a carbon-free world by 2030. Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, through his representative Mr. Dennis Chepkwony, stated how the company is at the forefront towards achieving a net-zero carbon emission by 2050. “We have introduced a science-based carbon reduction target to help us plan our progress towards becoming a zero-emission company,” confirmed Mr. Chepkwony. He also added that Safaricom is working with Kenya Forest and communities to plant a Safaricom forest to ensure they play a role in carbon offsetting.
The 10- Points Charter
All the private sector leaders present contributed and shared their views on mitigating climate change in the country. They later moved to sign the 10- point charter, presented by Kenya Climate Change Consulting Limited CEO, Prabhakar Vanam.
The 10 points are as follows:
- Reduce GHG emissions by 5% per annum
- Integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation actions into business modules
- Enhance investments and mobilize private capital for the implementation of climate change projects across the country
- Raise awareness and build capacity for the private sector to map out their GHG emissions hotspots
- Investing in low carbon and climate-resilient projects
- Develop green products and services that are climate-sensitive
- Integrating gender equality considerations within the climate change planning processes
- Develop sustainable strategies for business enterprises
- Developing standards and policies that will enable organizations to integrate climate change and sustainability
- Contribute to national and regional climate change negotiations
The event demonstrated efforts by the private sector in mitigating climate change in Kenya and identified gaps and interventions needed for climate action. The 10 point charter also developed a national road map for a sustainable future driven by the private sector. The conference will take place next year and be crowned by an award ceremony dubbed “sustainable company of the year awards.”