PRESS RELEASE : Alok Sharma, COP26 President, to return to Kenya to advance African climate leadership ahead of COP27 [October 2022]
The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 5 October 2022.
COP26 President Alok Sharma will travel to Kenya from 5-7 October, following his attendance at Pre-COP in the DRC.
Mr Sharma will meet newly-elected President Ruto and cabinet ministers to discuss Kenya’s continued climate leadership ahead of COP27
The COP President will visit wind and geothermal sites contributing to Kenya’s clean energy transition
Mr Sharma will also meet with youth, civil society and private finance representatives to discuss local implementation of policies that honour the Glasgow Climate Pact
COP26 President Alok Sharma will travel to Kenya from 5-7 October, following his attendance at Pre-COP in the DRC. The visit is an opportunity to engage with the new Kenyan administration on its commitment to maintain global climate leadership, and make a final call ahead of COP27 for countries to honour the Glasgow Climate Pact by accelerating their own clean energy transitions.
On his third visit to the country, Mr Sharma will spotlight key progress being made in this sector towards limiting global temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees. He will encourage President Ruto and his senior ministers to help build momentum for further change ahead of COP27 in the face of challenging global circumstances.
The COP President will travel to several renewable energy generation sites around Nairobi including Ngong Hills Wind Farm and Olkaria Geothermal Power Station, which has grown to the largest geothermal facility in Africa since being seed funded
by the UK Government in 1981. He will highlight this infrastructure as a model of how other countries can deploy renewables.
While in Nairobi, Mr Sharma will attend a roundtable with youth climate leaders and members of civil society to hear about how climate policy can be transformed into impactful local action.
The COP President will also engage with key figures in Kenyan finance at a climate finance event to understand how private capital is being mobilised in the country to combat climate change through green bonds, carbon credits, and climate-related financial disclosures.
Alok Sharma, COP26 President, said:
“Kenya continues to set an example to the rest of the African continent and the world, demonstrating an appetite to pursue green economic growth and achieve a just, renewable energy transition.
“I am pleased to see President Ruto reaffirm Kenya’s commitment to transition to 100% clean energy by 2030, and look forward to the positive impact this will have on growth, jobs and access to energy.
“But the drought currently afflicting this country is a stark reminder that, in order to save and safeguard lives from the devastating impacts of climate change, we must all redouble our efforts to go further and faster in delivering on the promises of the Glasgow Climate Pact.”
After his visit to Kenya, the COP26 President will travel to Washington DC to attend the 2022 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) from 14-16 October.
