Treasury in the dark over billions used on climate change fight

Through the ClimateScanner tool, used by 141 countries to assess national government responses to climate change, Ms Gathungu noted that although Kenya had put in place a mechanism to mobilise and disburse international climate finance, it wasn't able to track the climate billions the country had received.

ClimateScanner is a web-based tool that supports independent assessments of national responses to habitat change on three dimensions; governance; financing and public policies.

“The National Treasury did not have information on the amount mobilised, as the mechanism for tracking climate finance had not been implemented,” said Gathungu in a rapid assessment published in November 2025.

Kenya aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent by 2030.

The country has received significant climate financing, including approximately Sh88.5 billion ($551.4 million) from the International Monetary Fund through its Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

Kenya has also secured massive financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) of around $937.66 million (Sh120 billion) for projects aimed at building climate resilience across the country.

The GCF, established in 2010, is part of the financial mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and currently the world’s largest dedicated multilateral climate fund and the main multilateral financing mechanism to support developing countries in achieving a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions and an enhancement of their ability to respond to climate change.

The funds from GCF are primarily channelled through accredited entities, which include national, regional, and international institutions.

However, Ms Gathungu reckons that the country’s attempts to track climate financing remain largely on paper, with the government not putting into use the Climate Change Fund despite its being embedded in the Climate Change Act.

The Climate Change Fund is a financing mechanism for priority climate change interventions.

The special probe noted that the government was expected to have committed or sourced funds for achieving its climate goals and have mechanisms for tracking and reporting on the funds from abroad.

“However, the National Treasury did not have a system for tracking and reporting international climate finance, and therefore, did not have comprehensive information on how much had been mobilised and spent on climate action, including the activities implemented,” said Ms Gathungu.

Tracking of funds was to include funds spent on carbon-intensive projects and subsidies that are pervasive; subsidies that lead to more emissions, for instance, fuel subsidies.

The government was also expected to have a definition of what constitutes direct and indirect domestic climate finance and have mechanisms in place for tracking and reporting both categories.

In 2020, the National Treasury made attempts to track climate finance through the inclusion of a segment in the Integrated Financial Management Information System, requiring private and Government entities to report on their climate expenditures.

“However, these mechanisms had not been implemented at the time of the assessment,” said Ms Gathungu.

One of the ways of mobilising climate financing is through the trading of carbon credits at the global market, including compliance or voluntary markets.

“The National Treasury had also issued two Circulars in 2020 requiring all state and non-state actors to track and report on their climate expenditures, but the objective of the circulars has not been achieved, which indicates challenges in implementation. Further, the National Treasury last published a report on climate finance expenditures in 2021,” reads the report.

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