KenGen eyes Sh110 million from carbon credits sale
The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has been cleared to sell 4.6 million carbon credits which it has accumulated over the last year.
KenGen’s carbon credits, which are valued at over Kes110 million ($1 million), are from six of the geothermal power generating company plants in Olkaria, Naivasha.
The green light by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) will see the company earn millions off its sustainability efforts in power generation industry.
In June, KenGen joined the UN-backed global campaign to combat global warming, becoming the first public company in Kenya company to do so.
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Under the programme the Nairobi Securities Exchange listed company committed to disclose its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions every year as a way of checking and reducing its carbon footprint.
The initiative is part of the 2015 Paris agreement that aims to keep global temperature increase to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The deal also seeks to pursue global efforts to help limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
At the moment, KenGen produces about 72 per cent of the electricity consumed in Kenya, with over 80 per cent of this being sourced from renewable sources.
Early this month, KenGen announced it is setting up its seventh geothermal plant-Olkaria VII- which is expected to produce 83 megawatts of electricity as the firm deepens energy generation from geothermal sources.
