Ideas & Debate

Aligning Kenya climate plan to Glasgow forum agreements

idea-pic

World leaders at the just concluded 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. PHOTO | PSCU

I am a climate and energy pragmatist, who accepts that climate change is a global problem requiring equitably shared responsibilities for solutions. With the Glasgow Climate forum over, Kenya will need to pick solutions that add socio-economic value to Kenya and its people while contributing its fair share of global climate solutions.

This is as the country seeks the most effective ways to survive current and future climate impacts.

Glasgow proceedings revealed that climate agendas for many countries are driven by individual socio-economic interests and opportunities. And Kenya should not be expected to be any different in its motivation.

Kenya should accelerate momentum in its acknowledged area of climate success, which is renewable electricity generation. Competition among various renewable generations should be carefully regulated to maximise renewable potential while ensuring national power supply stability at the lowest possible cost to the economy.

Imported power should be ruled out to permit the development of local renewable resources while strengthening balance of payments.

Correspondingly, Kenya will need to accelerate the uptake of new renewable energy, especially by welcoming and supporting transport electrification technologies - road vehicles, motorbikes, three-wheelers, public transport, and ultimately SGR. It is through transport electrification that Kenya will achieve the most carbon emission reductions.

Energy efficiency and conservation in all applications should continue to receive attention, as this has the capacity for direct and indirect carbon reductions, especially where fossil fuels are used. Additionally, energy efficiencies come with economic paybacks.

At the forum, major fossil fuels producers and users could not commit timelines for reduced production and use of coal, oil, and gas. However, the net-zero carbon timelines presented by most nations indicate that Kenya can comfortably commercialise its Turkana oil within similar timeframes. Turkana oil project life is about 25 years of production.

Our petroleum authorities will therefore need to proactively get early commitments for Turkana oil commercialisation to drive early socio-economic pluses for Kenya. We should aim at exporting as much fossil fuels as we import. This is carbon and economic equity, in its fairest definition.

And the same applies to Kitui coal deposits which can be used for industrial heating of heavy industries such as cement and steel which continue to use imported coal and fuel oil. The Glasgow forum accepted that coal can be produced and used for industrial heating as long as it is supported with carbon capture and storage technologies.

Industrial heating is yet to develop alternative renewable energy applications. The caveat here is that no coal should be used for power generation where ample renewable resources exist.

To increase carbon sink capacity, Kenya needs to embark on a massive expansion of commercial forestry to support paper and wood industries.

Idle public and community land can be leased for commercial tree and bamboo plantations. There is also agroforestry which includes fruit plantations, which are already adding green and economic pluses.

In respect of climate adaption, Kenya will need to be “food smart” and focus on adaptable farming methods that increase productivity, assisted where necessary by irrigation.

It is time Kenya became scientifically bold and drop its legendary fear of crop biotechnologies and take defined risks in full commercialisation. This may be a climate adaptation solution that is long missing in action.

Further, Kenya will need to critically assess how to manage the wildlife/farmer interface to protect agriculture from destruction by wild animals. Animals and humans are equally impacted by global warming, and the two usually clash during droughts.

Climate vulnerable pastoralism will need to be gradually blended into agricultural settlements as is happening in some parts of North Rift.

Finally, Kenya should leverage the $ 100 billion-plus global climate fund promised by the Glasgow climate pact. Smart definition and justification of climate mitigation/adaptation projects will be needed.

And for this, I suggest a special desk be set up to provide businesses, entrepreneurs and communities with expert technical support to prepare sound proposals for climate funding.

The climate solutions suggested above indicate that national socio-economic development planning should of necessity include climate and energy considerations.

Glasgow forum outcomes are flexible enough to permit Kenya to minimise global warming impacts while optimising its natural resources and socio-economic opportunities.