Sustainability

  • Multi-agency report highlights challenges and opportunities.
  • Summit of the Future decisions: a choice between breakthrough or breakdown.
  • Increasing climate change impacts reverse development gains.
The science is clear. We are far off track from achieving vital climate goals. The impacts of climate change and hazardous weather are reversing development gains and threatening the well-being of people and the planet, according to a new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Greenhouse gas concentrations are at record levels, fuelling temperature increase into the future.  The emissions gap between aspiration and reality remains high. Under current policies, there is a two thirds likelihood of global warming of 3 °C this century, says the United in Science report.
United in Science offers much-needed grounds for hope. It explores how advances in natural and social sciences, new technologies and innovation enhance our understanding of the Earth system and could be game changers
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  • Africa is still in the early stages of the energy transition, and this includes the economic, financial, and societal aspects.
  • Across economies, many of the technologies to produce low-emissions steel are relatively nascent, with issues to solve.
  • Increasingly, policymakers are realizing that making energy transition from fossils to clean energy is costly.

Net-zero, an energy transition from traditional sources of fuel that pollute the environment to green energy and renewable sources, is the new global call for companies and organizations.

So far, there has been tremendous momentum, especially in the adoption of wind and solar power, electric cars, heat pumps. Climate finance has started to flow, albeit slowly to the Global South, and many companies have made considerable commitments.

“But right now, the world at large is only at about 10 per cent of the deployment of physical assets, that is, the technologies and infrastructure that we will need to …

  • With the risk of up to 118 million people being exposed to extreme weather by 2030, Africa is in a race against time to adapt fast.
  • African countries are already losing between 2% to 5% of their GDP annually due to climate-related hazards, such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves.
  • The cost of adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa alone is estimated at $30Bn to $50Bn annually over the next decade, representing 2% to 3% of regional GDP.

Africa, a continent rich in biodiversity and natural resources, faces some of the most severe impacts of extreme weather, making climate adaptation very critical. The increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and cyclones are wreaking havoc on African economies and societies.

The State of the Climate in Africa 2023 Report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), highlights that climate extremes disproportionately affect African nations. Increasingly, …

    • Energy industry experts and policymakers are meeting in Nairobi for the International Energy Agency 9th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, the first time the conference is being hosted in Africa.
    • European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir launched the Green Resilient Electricity System Program for Kenya.
    • The Green Resilient Electricity System Program will support Kenya’s goal of a complete transition to 100per cent clean power generation by 2030 and it will boost Kenya’s sustainable energy future.

    The green energy economy strategy seeks to build on the country’s current economic strengths to secure a more sustainable future. Kenya’s ambitious plan to fully transition to 100 per cent clean power generation by 2030 has received a major boost, with the European Union backing the initiative.

    This comes as leaders, energy industry experts, and policymakers meet in Nairobi for the International Energy Agency’s

  • Kenya’s Green Jobs Potential will be key in  preserving the country’s natural heritage and combating the challenges posed by climate change.
  • PS Labour and Skills Development Shadrack Mwadime warned that the transition to green economy has far reaching implications for the world of work
  • Green jobs are becoming a crucial driver of sustainable development in Kenya,

Stakeholders in the environment conservation sectors are deliberating on ways to unlock Kenya’s potential as a global hub for digital work and green jobs. The government, jointly with Jacob’s Ladder Africa, International Labour Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Children’s Fund, are in talks in Nairobi to align government priorities with the demands of the green job market.

Kenya National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop, brings together stakeholders from government, academia, private sector, finance, and youth-led groups to address the critical need for green jobs and skills development in …

  • Four innovators from Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Uganda, selected from a shortlist of 16, vie for the £50,000 (over $62,000) Africa Prize.
  • Their innovations encompass recycling in construction, AI tools for healthcare and farming, and reengineered waste collection, addressing crucial societal needs.
  • The three runners-up will each receive £15,000 (over $18,000), while a £5,000 (over $6,000) prize titled ‘One to Watch’ will be awarded to the most promising business among the shortlist.
  • Since 2014, the Africa Prize has empowered nearly 150 entrepreneurs across 23 African countries, creating over 28,000 jobs and positively impacting more than 10 million people with their innovative products and services.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is set to host the final showdown of the 10th Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, the continent’s premier engineering accolade, on June 13, 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya. Out of an initial pool of 16 visionary innovators crafting sustainable, scalable engineering solutions …

  • Firewood is responsible for killing at least 33,000 people yearly in Tanzania.
  • A person who is exposed to firewood smoke for an hour has similar health risks as a person who smokes between 200 and 300 cigarettes.
  • Tanzania is estimated to lose nearly 470,000 hectares of forest each year due to the rampant acts of cutting down trees for charcoal and firewood.

The use of clean cooking energy is no longer a luxurious thing. It is a necessity, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan noted recently during the launch of the 10-year National Clean Cooking Strategy in Dar es Salaam. However, this assertion comes at a precedented moment when women such as Magreth are seeking alternative energy.

“We ask President Samia to help us in any way possible with alternative ways of cooking such as gas,” says Magreth Ngole, a resident of Njombe and a frequent user of firewood for cooking

  • Over 68% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas in 2050 up from the current 55%.
  • However, poor living conditions are worsening with about 1.1 billion people worldwide residing in informal settlements or slums.
  • Furthermore, another 318 million people are either homeless or at risk of homelessness globally.

As the world grapples with the unprecedented pace of urbanization, the role of city planning has never been more critical. As populations surge, housing shortages bite harder, and the impacts of climate change manifest in increasingly severe ways, the traditional paradigms of city planning are being challenged like never before.

As projections indicate that over 68 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2050, the imperative need for visionary city planning has never been clearer, Dr. Erfan Ali, Chief of Staff at UN-Habitat, Nairobi, told delegates at a forum on Future Cities at …

  • It is estimated that inaction on SDGs will cost the global economy an extra $38 trillion
  • Currently, the SDG financing gap is at approximately $11–15 trillion per year
  • By the end of 2050-2060, there will  be over 1 billion climate refugees globally

Inaction in advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could cost the global economy an extra $38 trillion per year by 2050 at the current rate of progress.

This is according to renowned business leader, campaigner, and author Paul Polman, who has called on the Kenyan private sector to raise the level of ambition in advancing the global goals to move the country forward faster.

With the SDG financing gap at approximately $11–15 trillion per year, or four times greater than current spending levels, Paul Polman noted that the $38 trillion dollars is approximately 20 per cent of the entire global economy, and the longer we …

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