NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 27 – The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has released a report that highlight carbon market opportunities in Kenya.
The Sustainable Inclusive Business (SIB-Kenya) is dubbed “Change the Story: Developing a Local Carbon Market in Kenya”.
Its release comes just days after the 2023 Earth Hour celebrations.
It has been published in partnership with the global Sustainability Consultant Group, TheRockGroup.
Climate change and biodiversity are complex, global, and interconnected issues.
The report is limited to the role of the Kenyan private sector in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) with a focus on nature-based solutions (NBS) in addressing global warming, biodiversity loss, and deforestation.
It is part of the Change the Story project by SIB-Kenya, which focuses on NBS because of the extra benefits they provide to biodiversity conservation, the protection of landscapes, and community development.
“We’re encouraged that the government, the private sector led by KEPSA, and a wide array of the conservancy, agricultural and reforestation organizations are all eager to regreen Kenya and fight imminent threats associated with global warming, like drought, loss of biodiversity, and failing harvests,” said Ebenezer A. Amadi, the Program Manager at SIB-Kenya.
He added that an effort to streamline the domestic carbon market alongside the ongoing export of carbon credits is a worthwhile and timely course.
The global carbon credits market is booming, with an estimated turnover of US$2 billion in 2021, and a prediction of 10-40 US$ billion in 2030 according to Shell and BCG.
Kenya ranks number 8 on the list of countries selling carbon credits from Nature-Based Solutions, according to the Voluntary Carbon Market Overview 2022 by ClimateFocus.
At the Kenya Carbon Market Roundtable held in January 2023, KEPSA noted that Kenya has the potential to sequester, reduce, or avoid ~30 Mt CO2e/yr (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year); mobilize up to $600 million annually from regulatory compliance and voluntary carbon market (VCM) projects by 2030 using an average price of $20 per ton.
From 2016 to 2021, Kenya issued ~26 Mt CO2e of carbon offsets, more than any other African country and approximately 20 per cent of total African credits.
The report shows massive potential for carbon sequestration, with growing global demand. However, the export-focused policy in Kenya leaves Kenyan companies in the dark about domestic offsetting options.
Nonetheless, the Government has set up a technical working committee to support the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to leverage the carbon market to raise resources that will support adaptation and mitigation measures toward addressing climate change.
The Government has been noted to be firmly in favour of an active role of the private sector in reforestation and afforestation initiatives.
“New suppliers are struggling to access the market because they are unsure how to approach buyers and have little experience with auditing their projects. On the demand side, we only found scattered examples of Kenyan companies purchasing carbon credits,” highlights Jos Reinhoudt, author of the report and a Sustainability Consultant.
