Press Release

• Promoting carbon offsetting as the solution to climate change is not a truly sustainable initiative.
• The Bill has also significantly weakened the National Climate Change Council, established to guide climate change issues in Kenya.

Kenya is not exempt from the staggering consequences of climate change affecting countries around the globe. The impact on the nation's economy is alarming, with a record annual GDP loss of at least five per cent. That is a whopping Sh500 billion. 

In 2016, the government took a bold step towards combating climate change by enacting the Climate Change Act, intending to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote sustainable development and build the resilience of communities. However, recent amendments to the Act via the Climate Change (Amendment) Bill, 2023 have raised new concerns among citizens and experts. 

The problem lies at the very heart of the Bill, which aims to regulate carbon emissions and promote carbon credit trading in the country. At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, there is no denying the fact that this Bill, for all its ethical posturing, gives polluters the green light to carry on with business as usual without engaging with sustainable mitigation and adaptation interventions toward climate change.

On the one hand, the amendments promote carbon offsetting as a solution to climate change but, on the other hand, pays scant attention to land rights, access, acquisition and sovereignty. Not to mention inadequate funding of climate change programmes. 

Promoting carbon offsetting as the solution to climate change is not a truly sustainable initiative. Carbon offsetting—a practice that compensates for emissions made in one place by reducing emissions elsewhere—has been criticised as a false solution that delays the need to reduce emissions directly and fails to address the root causes of climate change.

A Trojan horse strategy will only encourage the proliferation of carbon offsetting schemes. Why change if you can pay for your mistakes and keep doing the same thing that caused the problem in the first place?  

The rush to incorporate the carbon credits offsetting scheme is even more questionable without proper public consultation. In the glaring absence of a Carbon Credits Policy, how will the actual value of carbon credits and the environmental resources involved in limiting carbon emissions be effectively determined?  

Further, the Bill employs a market-based/real estate valuation of natural resources that does not factor in the social and non-economic values of forests, land and water. Sustainability and inclusion must be at the forefront of the valuations underpinning this Bill. 

The Bill has also significantly weakened the National Climate Change Council, established to guide climate change issues in Kenya. This is a recipe for the production of poorly informed decisions that will hurt the environment and livelihoods.  

The lack of clarity on the role of the council also comes into sharp focus. The creation of a newly designated national authority outfit, which according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the National Environment Management Authority.

What then is the role of the council? Rather than encourage a proliferation of new agencies and documents, the Bill should appreciate the existing environmental policies and legislations such as the Environment Management and Coordination Act, and it should not compromise but strengthen the current legislation. 

Furthermore, the Bill must recognise the indigenous peoples and local communities' traditional knowledge and practices regarding carbon offset projects, ensuring that these communities are empowered to lead carbon-market efforts aligned with their cultural values, identities and practices. 

It is time for us to take urgent action to mitigate the impact of climate change. We must hold our lawmakers accountable, ensuring that bills such as the Climate Change (Amendment) Bill, 2023 are practical and workable. It is vital that the government listens to these concerns and makes the necessary changes to create a sustainable future.  

Omar is a lawyer and executive director at Muslims for Human Rights and Ikal is the executive director at Friends of Lake Turkana