Home » Latest News

NAIROBI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- British Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Gregory Barker was visiting Kenya on Wednesday to discuss to discuss environmental issues including green energy technology.

A statement from the British embassy in Nairobi said Barker who will be in Kenya for two days will see examples of green energy business partnerships between Kenyan and British companies and visits to solar farms.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Barker said Kenya is highly susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change that are presenting a serious threat to achievement of Vision 2030.

"We will also work closely with Kenya on the international climate negotiations, towards a new ambitious global deal in 2015, " he said in a statement issued by the embassy in Nairobi.

The British minister said London is a huge contributor of funds to help Kenya mitigate from and adapt to the consequences of climate change.

Over a four year period, Barker said, Britain will spend over 58 million U.S. dollars from the UK's International Climate Fund, on a range of activities including supporting Kenya to implement its National Climate Change Action Plan.

He said the funds will also enable Kenya to leverage private sector investment in low carbon technologies, helping communities to adapt to the effects of climate change, and improving livelihoods in affected areas.

The British minister's visit comes as a newly launched report says Kenya stands to gain greater economic benefits of higher productivity and greater food security while lowering the level of environmental pollution through a shift towards the "green economy".

The report launched by the government and UNEP urges the government to consider adopting targeted clean energy solutions for households and institutions and, making more investments in renewable energy, such as geothermal, solar, wind and biofuel energy to accelerate the transition.

Kenya is already demonstrating leadership by pioneering green economy approaches in the energy, urban and natural resources sectors as a vehicle to deliver its national development goals.

The Green Economy Assessment Report finds that Kenya's transition to a green economy could produce equivalent to an estimated 45 billion U.S. dollars by 2030 in economic benefits as cleaner environment and higher productivity of natural resources.