President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya urged international investors to tap into local green energy opportunities and help Kenya abandon harmful sources of electricity by 2030. He made this known, speaking from Nairobi at a virtual High-Level Dialogue on Energy on the sidelines of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Since 1981, when the UN General Assembly conducted the Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, this was the first worldwide gathering on energy under the auspices of the UN. It was held as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a series of 17 targets aimed at alleviating extreme poverty, protecting the environment, combating poverty, ending wars, and improving basic living standards by 2030.

The President urged the international community to support a joint call for action on sustainable energy, a proposal by Kenya, Malawi, and the Netherlands to promote a single energy policy.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, was also present at the summit and stated that the vast energy divide must be bridged by 2050 to free the world from fossil fuels.

Excerpts from President Kenyatta’s submission:

“We target to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Further, we aim to achieve 100 percent access to Clean Cooking by 2028.”

“But ladies and gentlemen, access to finance remains a critical barrier to faster progress in achieving our targets.”

“Kenya has demonstrated that it is possible to achieve ambitious development goals while remaining green.”

“We have installed the biggest wind power plant in sub-Sahara Africa, the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and are steadily exploiting and deploying available geothermal potential, currently estimated at 10,000 Megawatts.”

“That means cutting in half the number of people without access to electricity by 2025. And it means providing over 1 billion people with access to clean cooking solutions by 2025.”

“To reach universal energy access by 2030 and maintain a net-zero trajectory by mid-century, we must mobilise predictable finance at scale and promote technology transfer to the developing world.”

“We need to triple investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to 5 trillion dollars a year.”