Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Thursday morning met Switzerland Ambassador to Kenya Mirko Giulietti at his office where they renewed talks on a potential partnership in the emerging carbon credit sector.
In the meeting, Duale and his guest also discussed the ongoing preparations for Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement bilateral pact between Kenya and the Swiss Confederation.
The two countries on September 7, 2023, had signed an intent of bilateral cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to work together to address climate change issues.
“The pact will open up Kenya's emerging carbon markets to the Swiss private sector in line with the amended Climate Change Act,” the Ministry of Environment shared.
When complete, the agreement will establish a framework for the transfer of mitigation outcomes between Nairobi and Bern for use in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The bilateral agreement highlighted the complementarity between the cooperation under Article 6.2 of the Paris and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of the Republic of Kenya.
It also ensured environmental integrity, including conservative baseline setting and the additionality of the mitigation outcomes, as well as the promotion of sustainable development and the adherence to human rights in the implementation of the cooperation.
"The bilateral agreement should aim to operationalize the relevant provisions of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, in particular on the avoidance of double counting of the internationally transferred mitigation outcomes resulting from the mitigation activities to be implemented under the agreement,” read part of the document.
The Cabinet Secretary was joined in the meeting by the Ministry's Director for Climate Change Director Pacifica Ogola.
This comes as Kenya introduced the Climate Change (Carbon Markets) Regulations, 2024, which seek to provide the legal framework for the operation of carbon projects and markets.
The Regulations provide for the setup of a carbon registry that will keep a record of all carbon projects, which may be entitled to fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
According to Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), from 2016 to 2021, Kenya issued an equivalent of 26 metric tons of carbon offsets, more than any other African country and approximately 20 per cent of total African credits.
Kenya has the potential to sequester, reduce, or avoid 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year and mobilize up to $600 million (approximately Ksh77.3 billion) annually from regulatory compliance and voluntary carbon market (VCM) projects by 2030 using an average price of $20 (Ksh2577) per ton.
