Kenya is proposing a national carbon registry that will require all carbon credit-generating projects—including those in tree planting, clean energy, and conservation—to be formally registered and monitored under a new legal framework.
The Draft Climate Change (Carbon Registry) Regulations, 2025, published by the Ministry of Environment, seek to establish a central platform where all carbon credit projects in Kenya will be recorded, tracked, and verified.
Individuals, companies, NGOs, and county governments engaging in carbon-offsetting initiatives will be required to register before earning or trading carbon credits.
The directive comes at a time when there are growing concerns over unregulated carbon deals in which foreign companies have made massive profits from Kenya’s natural resources, often without involving local communities or governments.
Several cases have emerged where indigenous landowners were excluded from multi-year deals involving forests, wetlands, or carbon capture schemes, prompting the state to intervene.
Under the proposed regulations, all carbon credit projects must disclose ownership details, benefit-sharing mechanisms, and environmental impact data, with non-compliance attracting penalties. The registry will be managed by the Climate Change Directorate and linked with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to ensure alignment with national environmental laws.
Kenya’s carbon credit market is estimated to be worth tens of billions of shillings, with increasing global demand from countries and corporations seeking to offset their emissions. Yet, in the absence of oversight, the benefits have largely bypassed ordinary citizens, counties, and small-scale developers who lack the resources or networks to access the market.
By formalising the system, the government hopes to simplify access to carbon revenues, allowing local communities, farmers, and small investors to participate meaningfully.
The proposed law empowers the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry to prescribe procedures for registry operations, issue guidance, and designate functions to relevant institutions for implementation.
Stakeholders have been invited to submit feedback on the draft regulations by July 15, as part of the ongoing public participation process before the final rules are gazetted.
''The Draft Regulations are proposed by the Cabinet Secretary pursuant to the provisions of section 23G of the Climate Change Act, and they operationalise the salient provisions of the said Act. The objectives of the Draft Regulations are, among others, to provide for the operation and effective administration of the National Carbon Registry and related sector registries and to provide for access to information of carbon projects for enhanced public confidence and market integrity,'' read part of the notice by CS Deborah Barasa.
"This is therefore to request the public and all persons likely to be affected by the Draft Regulations to submit a written memorandum on the Draft Regulations to reach the undersigned within Twenty-Eight (28) days from the date of publication of the Public notice or on or before 15 July 2025."
