Should Kenya worry about climate mitigation?

The entire African continent is estimated to be responsible for just about five per cent of carbon dioxide emissions globally. The means that Kenya’s contribution to this amount is less than one per cent and therefore negligible. The question then arises: should developing countries like Kenya worry about climate change mitigation?

From an earlier post, climate change mitigation was described as being any effort intended at removing greenhouse gases (GHGs) already in the atmosphere; or reducing the amount of GHGs being released into the atmosphere by sources. The main sources of carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas, are fossil fuels such as petroleum products and coal.

Efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide the ends up in the atmosphere include replacing fossil fuels particularly petroleum products, coal and natural gas with renewable alternatives such as solar, wind, hydro or geothermal.

Other measures include construction of “green buildings”, where natural light is used during daytime; where use of air conditioning is minimised; and in which systems that automatically switch off lights when people leave rooms or offices are installed.

These measures are important to adopt even in countries such as Kenya that have contributed very little to current high levels of GHGs that are already in the atmosphere.

Removal of carbon dioxide is mainly done by increasing green cover, particularly through increasing the amount of land under forests. This ensures that through the process of photosynthesis more plants, including sea plants such as algae and sea weed, are available to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide. These biological agents of capturing carbon namely forests, grasslands, and other plants, including crops, shrub- and wood-lands and sea plants are referred at as natural carbon sinks.

It should be noted that though Kenya is a developing country, it aspires, through Vision 2030, to become a middle income country with a good quality of life for its citizens by that time. This will mean increased industrialisation to boost manufacturing and expansion of infrastructure and other activities that will inevitably lead to increased levels of carbon dioxide emission.

The expected surge in energy demand needs to be handled strategically and in a manner that additional emission of GHGs is minimised. According to the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP), Kenya aspires to follow a low carbon development pathway. The Plan notes: “Kenya has little historical or current responsibility for global climate change, and emissions are low relative to global emissions. Kenya’s low carbon climate resilient development pathway recognises that national emissions will increase with population and economic growth. However, the pathway can help ensure that Kenya remains a low emitter as the country develops and takes steps to reduce vulnerability to climate change.”

The NCCAP therefore answers our question above in the affirmative. Specific actions to reduce carbon emission can be taken by each sector of development including agriculture by encouraging practices such as agroforestry, where trees are intercropped with food and cash crops, ensuring more tree cover to capture carbon dioxide.

In the energy sector, increasing the proportion of renewable energy, particularly geothermal which is plentiful in Kenya, would help reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels while in transport, development of urban mass transport systems would help reduce the use of private cars to commute to work and therefore pollution and emissions that they cause. Urban transport systems can use clean energy such as solar, further reducing emissions.

In manufacturing, companies can be encouraged to increase efficiency in energy use through practices such as regular energy audits. Those using clean energy most efficiently can be given incentives in order to continue reducing emissions hence encouraging others to follow suit.

Fortunately, more than 190 countries signed the 2015 Paris Agreement when rich countries, which are the world’s highest polluters, indicated their intentions to support poorer countries to strengthen climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes. Given that increased emission of GHGs anywhere eventually affects all countries, Kenya needs to play its part towards climate change mitigation even if others have been historically responsible for current high levels of GHGs.

These countries, through the Paris Agreement, have committed to help finance climate change adaptation programmes so that developing countries can deal with the damage the rich countries have been responsible for. The polluting countries at the same time have committed to assign themselves targets for reducing emissions. This is why the Paris Agreement is viewed as the strongest statement by the global community that climate change has to be combated at all costs. The next post shall focus of the Paris Agreement, including its fundamental weaknesses.