National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani says Kenya is on course with a planned debut of a sovereign green bond to fund projects that are aligned to it’s sustainable economy agenda.

Proceeds from green bonds are used to finance projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, green transport, and wastewater treatment sectors.

The government initially aimed to raise $50 million (Sh5.04 billion) through the green financing facility.

Speaking during a virtual meeting yesterday, Yatani said, without giving definite dates, the plans will take place in the near future.

This comes five months after the announcement was first made public by the Central Bank of Kenya’s Governor Patrick Njoroge.

“Kenya will soon be launching its debut Sovereign Green Bond to finance green projects across the country in line with the country’s green economy and climate change development agenda,” Yatani said.

Through green financing, Kenya seeks to respond to challenges of environmental degradation in general, and climate change in particular which is the lifeline of the 70 per cent of its population that directly depend on natural resources.

The 10-Year Financing Locally Led Climate Action, or FLLoCA programme, under The National Treasury and Planning, seeks to mobilise $1.05 billion (Sh110 billion) to support the update of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

In this regard, it is estimated that over 50 per cent of all counties in Kenya have established County Climate Change Funds (CCCFs) and dedicated at least 2 per cent of their development budgets to climate adaptation actions and to building local climate resilience infrastructure.

Nature capital asset

The country recently concluded The Landscape of Climate Finance in Kenya: On the Road to Implementing Kenya’s NDC, in March this year which successfully tracked and placed Kenya’s green-related investments in FY 2017/18 at Sh243.3 billion or $2.4 billion.

Of this amount, public resources from domestic and international providers accounted for Sh144.3 billion or 59.4 per cent of green investments.

Kenya has attracted an estimated $4.6 billion (Sh460 billion) for green projects with the green energy sector accounting for 40 per cent of those flows and related projects.