The UK and Kenya join forces to tackle climate change

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President H.E. William Ruto are working to combat climate change, following the commitments made between the UK and Kenya at COP27.

At the COP27 climate summit in Egypt last year, Rishi Sunak and H.E William Ruto agreed to join forces and tackle climate change, in addition to creating jobs and generating affordable and sustainable power supplies for people in Kenya.

Plans for the Menengai Geothermal Power Plant have been ongoing since February 2023. On Thursday 8 June, a ceremony was held to commemorate the construction of the geothermal power plant in Menengai, Kenya.

The Menengai Geothermal Power Plant, which is one of six green investment projects worth KES 500 billion, will provide 750,000 Kenyans with affordable and clean energy. This is due to the geothermal plant generating 35MW of electricity.

During the ceremony, Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said: "As one of the countries most affected by climate change, we are determined to attain our target of 100 per cent transition to green energy; it is clean, reliable, affordable and sustainable."

Recently, a UN report revealed that "the world is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 7, designed to ensure access to affordable, reliable energy for all".

Recently, Kenya was victim to a nationwide power blackout, following a technical fault. At least 25 million people lost access to power in Nairobi, western and central Kenya, the Rift Valley region, and the Nyanza region.

This was not the first time that Kenyan people experienced a lack of electricity.

Kenya Power revealed in a statement that Kenya has repeatedly "lost a bulk of power supply to various parts of the country due to a system disturbance".

The green project is being led by Globeleq. Globeleq is a "leading independent power producer operating and developing diversified power projects in Africa". The UK company is backed by British International Investment. The Globeleq project is the second project to have construction commerce.

During the construction of the power plant, it has been predicted that the project will lead to the employment of approximately 200 people in Kenya. Once the project has finished, and the plant is operating, it will provide jobs for around 40 permanent staff and contractors.

Exactly one month after the COP27 climate summit took place in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, construction started at Nairobi Railway City. The project was dubbed a "green rail-centred urban regeneration project" by the government.

Kenya and the UK came together after the UK-hosted G7 in Carbis Bay in 2021. At the G7, world leaders committed to building a new Global Partnership for Infrastructure.

The Nairobi Railway City project and the Globeleq power plant, are a reflection of predictable, transparent, and reliable investments that have been made by the UK. According to the government, these are investments that "do not load Kenya with unsustainable debt".

The UN report that highlighted Sustainable Development Goal 7 as unrealistic, also motioned that financial support is essential for reforming international public economies. The reforming of international economies allows for sustainable energy to be provided to those in low and middle-income countries.

The UK High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriott, said: "This shows that the UK and Kenya go far when we go together – delivering mutual benefits for both our countries."

"This plant will both advance Kenya's global leadership on climate change and bring down the cost of power – showing that green growth is good for business and good for Kenyans," she added.

At the ceremony, the GDC Board Chairman Hon. Walter Osebe Nyambati commented: "In just 13 years, we have turned Menengai from a jungle into a complex that is promising Kenya's green future."