Kenya seeks enhanced EU support for climate initiatives ahead of COP29

By Robert Mutasi 

Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Aden Duale held successful talks with Ambassador Henriette Geiger, the European Union's Head of Delegation in Kenya, with a result aimed at strengthening the country's climate actions. 

The Nairobi engagement anchored on support from the EU to scale up climate programs and the prospect of increasing climate finance flows in the country.

Duale insisted on capitalizing on the historical relations between Kenya and the EU, especially at a time when the country looks forward to exploiting its emerging carbon markets. 

"We are keen to leverage strong historical Kenya-EU bilateral ties to expand climate finance inflows, particularly through Kenya's emerging highly potential carbon markets," he said.

The proposed discussions also covered the unveiled EU-Kenya Green Partnership meant to ramp up Europe's public and private investments in the green transition of Kenya.

This would serve to further benefit the country's strategies for climate action and socio-economic transformation in line with the Kenyan BETA plan.

As the 29th Conference of the Parties-COP 29-approaches and is scheduled for this month in Baku, Kenya is putting its house in order in readiness to present a common position on key issues that include mitigation, adaptation, finance, Article 6 provisions, and the loss and damage fund.

"Our position is in line with the African Group of Negotiators' stand, which has been adopted by the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment and the Climate Change Strategy Committee of the African Union," Duale said while emphasizing the country is speaking with one voice under the leadership of President William Ruto.

This was further accompanied by the commitment of Dr. Eng. Festus Ng'eno, the Principal Secretary for Environment and Climate Change, showing the government commitment to high levels in enhancing climate action through international collaboration.

The proposed partnership and the forthcoming discussions at COP29 indeed demonstrate Kenya's commitment to addressing climate change and ensuring sustainable development.

The partnership is meant to increase the resilience of Kenya against climate change and ensure that economic growth is compatible with the paths of sustainable development internationally agreed upon, particularly with an increased focus on green investments.

This meeting sets the stage for more frequent interactions between Kenya and the EU and puts Kenya in the limelight as it takes the lead in the climate change discussion in the run-up to the high-stakes global summit.