World leaders gathered in Katowice, Poland for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24). The key agenda was to negotiate how to tackle climate change.
In Kenya, climate change is the main environmental threat that affects every aspect of our lives. Dr. Richard Munang, from UN environment, explains that Africa is losing 68 billion US dollars as a result of environmental degradation.
With global warming being the major subject discussed at the COP24, Kenyans have a reason to be worried. This is because, just like in other developing countries, Kenya is at the tipping point of global warming. Experts claim that not much is being done to handle climate change in Kenya.
As a result of global warming, an increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as droughts and floods has hit various parts of our country. for this reason, experts are now advocating for the use of renewable energy as a mitigation measure to combat adverse impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
From what is gathered at the COP24, many countries with emerging economies appear committed to fighting climate change, but very few are actually on track to achieving these goals. David Fredrick, a naturalist, explains, "If we do not take action on climate change, the extinction of most of our natural world will be on the rise."
All this results in one major question, 'What role can a corporate play in mitigating climate change? On this show, we focus on the African Guarantee Fund, an organization that saw the need to save Kereita forest in Kiambu County, by planting trees.
They are aware of the benefits of trees in mitigating climate change and for that reason, turned up in large numbers of more than 300 people, including AGF's partner financial institutions, and planted more than 10,000 trees.
Felix Bikpo, AGF's CEO noted, "SME's need to acquire the right green technology for them to be competitive tomorrow." Various corporates agreed on the fact that climate change is real and is man-made.
According to experts, Kenya is yet to achieve the United Nation's recommended 10% forest cover. Many organizations, however, have proven to be doing all they can to ensure they come up with new strategies to tackle climate change. One of such strategies is the Green Facility by the African Guarantee Fund.
The Green Facility is a financial instrument as well as a risk management tool that AGF uses to support the various green initiatives available in the market to address climate change.
Knowing that SME's have a key role in mitigating climate change, this should be the language of every corporate. In so doing, the already known and dreaded major environmental challenge will soon be done away with.