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Enigin Update - Kenya to Tackle Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

Enigin Update - Kenya to Tackle Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

THE KENYAN government has drafted a Bill to tackle climate change through energy efficiency investments and actions plus setting up carbon credit trading.

The draft Climate Change Bill 2010 is intended to provide directions on how Kenya will lessen the effects and adapt to climate change. The proposals require that the government to publish details of an energy management plan and the setting of mandatory energy efficiency targets for businesses.

The Kenyan Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) recently announced it will be releasing new regulations for industrial, commercial and institutional organisations, which is expected to open up new funding from commercial banks, as organisations and companies seek to add energy efficiency technology and upgrade existing inefficient equipment..

The energy management regulations will provide guidance to organisations and businesses on the investments they should make to conserve energy through upgrades and diversification into renewable energy.

Bernard Osawa, the director of renewable energy at the ERC, said a key requirement of the new proposed Energy (Energy Management) Regulations 2010 is that a company must do an energy audit every three years.

The proposed Climate Change Bill 2010 requires update of planning and building regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Enigin Distributors in east Africa are already helping businesses and public institutions to save energy, reduce emissions and reduce energy costs through installing energy efficiency solutions from Enigin. Contact your local Enigin Distributor now to discover how you can save energy, money and reduce CO2 emissions.

The draft Bill also proposes that six months after it becomes an Act, the Kenyan government will establish a National Clean Energy Development Mechanism Authority (NCEDMA) to give directions on trading of carbon emission reductions.

The wording in the draft Bill notes:

“The authority will evaluate projects to find out which qualify for investments. Projects with higher sustainable development benefits and which are likely to succeed are accorded higher priority.”

The NCEDMA will complement the proposed climate exchange platform planned to facilitate trading in carbon credits and open up financing for renewable energy and afforestation.

Kenya’s Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua stated:

“Kenya is better placed to emerge as a regional carbon emission trading hub. We have started a process of establishing a trading scheme in Nairobi to pioneer the carbon market in Africa.”

Treasury officials said the formation of the carbon exchange, to be known as the Nairobi Climate Exchange, was being fast-tracked because of the high number of inquiries received from foreign banks that wanted to partner in carbon credits trading.

The Kenyan draft bill was released on a day global food security experts warned that climate change could deal a catastrophic blow to food security in poor countries.

Picture of Nairobi afromusing

Thursday 18th November 2010