P4G Partnerships in Kenya

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Kenyan Government Joins with Private Sector to Accelerate Partnerships for a Green Growth Future

NAIROBI—July 27, 2018— The National Treasury and The Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Kenya alongside the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat (VDS) and Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) announced today their joint leadership in a crucial initiative ushering the country towards a sustainable, inclusive future. Together, these leading organizations will host the Kenyan national platform for P4G -- Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – a new initiative funded by the Danish government that identifies and incubates the most innovative public-private partnerships to drive sustainable economic growth worldwide.

The P4G National Platform in Kenya will help further P4G’s network in the country and across the African continent. This network will increase the opportunities for facilitation and funding support that P4G provides; and will support collaboration with other P4G partner countries. Ultimately, the Kenyan National Platform will be a regional hub hosting the best and most relevant ideas for the green economy in Kenya and around the world.

In their combined position as a P4G national platform, the two ministries, VDS and KEPSA have already made significant contributions to Kenya’s green growth pursuit: in P4G’s global competition to identify the world’s most cutting-edge green partnerships, seven Kenya-based projects were included among 24 selected finalists. These seven partnerships were selected from nearly 450 applications spanning 80 countries, and will focus on a spectrum of activities related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including: energy access and investment, improved industrial and urban practices for the circular economy, and innovation in land use and agricultural technology.

To qualify for P4G support, partnerships must include public, private and civil society partners, be focused on projects in one or more developing countries, and offer a commercially viable solution in one or more of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and circular economy. In 2018, P4G selected 24 partnerships to receive facilitation and/or funding support to advance their projects.

P4G’s national platforms in partner countries bring together business, government and civil society organizations to collaborate on and help inform public-private partnerships that advance the SDGs. In addition to Kenya, other P4G partner countries include Denmark, Ethiopia, The Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. P4G also works with organizational partners C40 Cities, Global Green Growth Institute and World Economic Forum; and is hosted by World Resources Institute.

“Each of these P4G partnerships will be a foundational block in pushing Kenya towards our Vision 2030 agenda,” said Secretary of the Treasury Henry Rotich. “These partnerships represent truly innovative solutions for greener development and we look forward to using the P4G platform to incubate and scale these ideas for Kenya’s improvement and ultimately to set a green growth example for the rest of the world.”

“As we approach the link between the green growth agenda with Kenya’s development priorities, we must work together as stakeholders to maximize our bottom-line and accelerate economic transformation at the least cost to the environment,” added KEPSA Chairman Nick Nesbitt.

P4G Global Director Ian de Cruz also commented, “We congratulate the new P4G Partnerships and The National Treasury and Planning, the Ministry of Environment, VDS and KEPSA in their launch of the P4G National Platform in Kenya. By embracing public-private partnerships, Kenya can be a global innovator in sustainable solutions driven by numerous SDGs.”

The Kenyan organizations represented among the finalists include businesses and civil society organizations. In addition to facilitation support, those partnerships selected as start-up finalists qualify for up to 100,000 USD in P4G funding while the scale-up finalists will compete for up to 1 million USD in funding. The partnerships selected for scale-up funding will be announced at the P4G Copenhagen Summit 2018 taking place on 19-20 October in Denmark.

Background

Selected for facilitation and shortlisted for scale-up funding:

• Sustainable Special Economic Zones (SSEZ): Sustainable Special Economic Zones developed by Made in Africa Initiativeis led by SYSTEMIQ with support from UNDP. The partnership will disseminate its experiences from Nigeria on promoting sustainable industrialization to set up Sustainable Special Economic Zones in Ethiopia and Kenya. In these zones, the SDGs will be holistically integrated into sector selection and production – e.g. by focusing on sustainable energy and reuse of water and waste.
• Building Efficiency Accelerator is directed by the World Green Building Council with support from the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency and Danfoss. The partnership seeks to increase the adoption of energy efficiency policies and best practices in cities in Colombia, Mexico, Vietnam and Kenya. Buildings are estimated to consume one-third of energy demand and generate one-fourth of GHG emissions globally. The partnership will engage local Green Building Councils along with public and private sector partners at the national and local levels to accelerate retrofitting existing buildings and increasing the number of new buildings equipped with energy efficiency technologies and materials.
• The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (the Lab) aims to drive billions of dollars of private investment to the low-carbon, climate resilient economy in developing countries by identifying, developing, and supporting transformative sustainable finance ideas. A public-private partnership that includes over 60 institutions, the Lab brings together and catalyzes broader government and private sector efforts to scale up finance to mitigate climate change and enable climate adaptation in developing countries. With P4G’s support, the Lab aims to launch a sub-Saharan Africa Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, drawing upon the Lab’s established process, expertise, and investor base, while partnering with local experts and investors, as well as key regional partners, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa, FONERWA, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, to crowd-source, develop, and launch transformative financial solutions that address key barriers to sustainable investment in sub-Saharan Africa.

Selected for facilitation and start-up funding:

• Partnership for a New Plastics Economy in Kenya is developed by Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) with support from PETCO Kenya, Retail Traders Association of Kenya (RETRAK), BESIC Group Ltd, Discovery Brands, Ital 3D solutions, County Government of Kiambu and Kenya Climate Change Innovation (KCIC). The partnership focuses on plastic waste management in Kenya – 1.3 million kg plastic waste is generated weekly in Kenya. The partnership will increase the use of recycled plastic products and improve the collection of plastic waste through voluntary schemes and policy recommendations. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is engaged in the partnership through a Strategic Sector Cooperation project on recycling of plastic products between the EPA and Kenyan authorities. 
• Global Distributors Collective (GDC) will support businesses which distribute products that meet the needs of poor consumers, such as solar lights, water filters, clean cookstoves and nutrition products. These technologies and the markets needed to deliver them are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. However, businesses – a collective of last mile distribution companies, hosted by Practical Action with implementing partners BoP Innovation Centre and Hystra – will act as a collective voice for “last mile” distributors to help attract investment, shape policy and create an enabling environment for distributors to thrive.
• Energise Africa is the product of the joint efforts of Ethex and Lendahand, two of Europe’s leading online impact investing platforms. The partnership aims to demonstrate how UK-based retail impact investors can provide affordable finance for pioneering solar businesses operating in Africa to accelerate universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Energise Africa makes it possible to start investing with just £50 in solar businesses installing systems in rural, Sub-Saharan African homes – allowing “pay-as-you-go” flexibility to low income households across Africa, bringing clean energy alternatives to families otherwise dependent on kerosene or diesel.
• The Sustainable Food Platform led by DanChurchAid, along with Arla Foods Ingredients. The partnership aims to rethink market-based solutions to promote food security for poor and vulnerable people living in refugee camps and local host communities. The partnership will tap into existing knowledge and bring together local producers with global partners in an “innovation platform,” which will develop and test low-tech and energy-efficient food solutions (e.g. nutritious and affordable products like biscuits and porridge) to promote nutrition and sustainable livelihoods for the poor. The country focus will be in Ethiopia, with links to Uganda and Kenya, where more than 2 million refugees live today.

About P4G

Launched in 2017, P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – is a new initiative with the ambition of becoming the world’s leading forum for developing concrete public-private partnerships at scale to deliver on the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. The government of Denmark provides 37 million USD in initial funding for P4G from 2018-2022. Besides the partner countries, non-profit organizations such as the Global Green Growth Institute, C40 Cities, World Economic Forum, and the World Resources Institute (which hosts the P4G Global Hub) are also P4G partners.