Two Kenyan firms are among six clean energy innovators who made it to the top six of this year’s Ashden Awards. The list of six was announced on July 1 at the end of the International London Climate Action Week conference.
Kakuma Ventures has earned recognition for creating clean energy, Internet connections and new jobs for refugee camp residents while SokoFresh has been picked for providing affordable and sustainable cooling solutions for small-scale farmers in Kenya.
Among the six finalists, four are drawn from African countries – Kenya, Togo and Zimbabwe. The six excelled out of 11 that had been picked for the contest out of an initial 148 award applicants. Togo’s Energy Generation and Zimbabwe’s Zonful were picked for their efforts in helping young people and women get access to the required skills and opportunities for developing a future clean power sector.
Others on the list include Imece Initiative from Turkey and Collectives for Integrated Livelihoods Initiatives (CINI) from India.
Speaking during the announcement, Ashden CEO Harriet Lamb hailed African climate innovators for their efforts toward lowering carbon emissions.
“With the crucial COP27 climate talks taking place in Africa in November, it’s great to see the continent’s dynamic innovators proving how climate solutions can lower emissions and also create work and reach the most disadvantaged too. These innovators are seizing the youth population’s enormous potential,” said Lamb.
Last year, a Kenyan refrigeration service provider Solar Freeze was among the award winners for offering clean energy and affordable refrigeration solutions for food and medicine in refugee camps.
The firm bagged the Humanitarian Energy Award in a ceremony held on the sidelines of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Ashden has been spotlighting and supporting climate and energy innovators in low-income countries and the UK since 2001.
The winners of the Ashden Awards will be announced in Nairobi in October 2022 in the run-up to COP27 in Egypt in November.
The finalists will be judged by international specialists on each award category and will receive financial and strategic support.