Skip navigation
SEI brief

Energising Kenya’s future: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving development aspirations

This discussion brief presents potential energy pathways for achieving Kenya’s NDC, and highlights conflicts, synergies and public perception issues that generate uncertainties and risks.

Download  Download the PDF / PDF / 2 MB
Citation

Oliver Johnson, Hannah Wanjiru, Mbeo Ogeya, Francis Johnson, Marieke van Klaveren, Francesco Dalla Longa (2018). Energising Kenya's future: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Achieving Development Aspirations. SEI Discussion Brief. Stockholm Environment Institute.

Climate change impacts pose significant hazards for socio-economic development in Kenya, through prolonged droughts, unreliable weather patterns, and the emergence of new pests and diseases.

Under the Paris Agreement, Kenya committed itself to tackling climate change. Its nationally determined contribution (NDC), which builds on the 2013 Kenya Climate Change Action Plan, pledges to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% by 2030. At the same time, Kenya’s NDC recognises the country’s development aspirations of becoming a newly industrialised middle-income country by 2030.

Recent scenario modelling work by the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) shows that it is feasible to expand Kenya’s power sector to meet growing demand using low-carbon energy options. However, nothing guarantees that power-sector expansion in Kenya will rely only on low-carbon energy solutions, especially given the large financial costs involved.

The authors put forward potential low-carbon energy pathways for Kenya, and put forward key strategies for success.

Download

Download the PDF / PDF / 2 MB

SEI authors

Mbeo Ogeya
Mbeo Ogeya

Research Fellow

SEI Africa

Francis X. Johnson
Francis X. Johnson

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Asia

Topics and subtopics
Climate : Mitigation / Energy : Renewables
Related centres
SEI Africa

Design and development by Soapbox.