By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Kenya has set up plans to scale up efforts in low carbon development in order to combat climate change.
Chris Kiptoo, principal secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said on Wednesday during a forum organized by the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) that the country’s development blueprint, Kenya Vision 2030, has identified climate change as a risk that could slow the country’s development.
“Some of the initiatives to achieve a low carbon development pathway include the promotion and expansion of renewable in the electricity generation mix of the national grid as well as the enhancement of energy and resource efficiency across the different sectors,” said Kiptoo.
Currently, 90 percent of the electricity dispatched and used by Kenyans is from renewable energy sources. “We plan to retire at least 380 MW of our thermal plants by 2022 as we increase the use of renewable energy,” he added.
According to the ministry of environment, about 80 percent of Kenyans still use biomass for cooking and heating. In order to promote environmental conservation, the government plans to achieve 100 percent access to clean cooking by 2030.
He added that 70 percent of the country’s greenhouse emissions are from the land sector and therefore the government will focus on achieving land degradation neutrality through the restoration of forest cover and water towers.