Glasgow, Scotland

President Uhuru Kenyatta has pledged before the international community that Kenya is committed and is set to achieve full transition to clean energy by the year 2030.

He says renewable energy accounts for 73 per cent of Kenya's installed power generation capacity and 90 per cent of power used is from green sources, including geothermal, wind, solar and hydro-electric installations.

"Renewable energy in Kenya currently accounts for 73% of the installed power generation capacity, while 90% of the electricity in use is from clean sources. We are on course to achieve our target of 100% use of clean energy by 2030 and to achieve 100 per cent access to clean cooking by 2028," Uhuru said.

The president was speaking on the sidelines of the 'Accelerating Clean Energy Technology Innovation and Deployment' meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

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PHOTO/STATE HOUSE

Addressing world leaders including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he said the energy sector accounts for most of the global greenhouse gas emissions and the world faces a key hurdle of innovating new low carbon energy solutions.

"The energy sector accounts for three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions. The critical challenge, therefore, is how to reduce carbon emissions from the energy sector while ensuring that all people have access to clean energy. We urgently need new and improved clean energy technologies that meet the energy demand without exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions," President Kenyatta said.

PHOTO/STATE HOUSE

He noted that Kenya had expanded access to clean affordable energy and his government had expanded access to electricity from below 30 per cent to 75 per cent in nine years.

"Kenya has made significant progress in advancing access to affordable, and clean energy for all. In this regard, we have increased access to electricity from below 30 per cent in 2013 to over 75 per cent in 2020.

"We have installed the biggest wind power plant in sub-Sahara Africa - the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and are steadily exploiting and deploying available geothermal potential, currently estimated to be 10,000 Megawatts."

He asked world leaders to invest more in research, innovation and technology transfer, and utilize the public private partnerships (PPP) avenue to finance clean energy solutions.

PHOTO/STATE HOUSE

He reiterated Kenya's commitment to the below 1.5 degrees climate ambition, and accelerated development and use of clean energy technologies and sustainable solutions.

In his address, Johnson said the UK is determined to make clean power the most affordable and reliable option by 2030, and embrace zero-emissions vehicles in all UK regions.

Boris Johnson. PHOTO/STATE HOUSE

“By making clean technology the most affordable, accessible and attractive choice, the default go-to in what are currently the most polluting sectors, we can cut emissions right around the world,” he said.

Boris added, “The Glasgow breakthroughs will turbocharge this forward, so that, by 2030, clean technologies can be enjoyed everywhere, not only (by) reducing emissions but also creating more jobs and greater prosperity."

Joe Biden. PHOTO/STATE HOUSE

US President Joe Biden said there was an urgent need for new technologies and innovations to expand the world's access clean energy sources.

"Current technology alone won’t get us where we need to be. So, it must be a decisive decade for innovation and development demonstration, commercializing new energy (sources) by 2030 so that they can be widely deployed in time for 2050 net zero goals,” Biden said.