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Kenya

increase annual per capita water availability from 647m3 to 1000m3 by 2022

decrease emissions by 30% from the business as usual scenario by 2030

increase forest cover to at least 10% of total land area by 2022

960,000 ha forest restoration by 2030 against a 2012 baseline

281,000 ha cropland converstion to agroforest by 2030

2,275 MW geothermal capacity development by 2030

Annual per capita water availability from 647 m3 to 1000m3 by 2023

Increase forest cover to 10% of total land area; rehabilitate degraded lands, including rangelands; increase resilience of the wildlife and tourism sector by 2023 compared with a  scenario

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<p>The Adaptation for Water Access and Resilience in Ewaso Nyiro River Basin (AWARE) is a major climate resilience project in Kenya financed by a $20 million grant from the <a href="https://www.adaptation-fund.org/project/242243/" target="_blank">Adaptation Fund</a>. The project addresses severe environmental water stress, frequent droughts, and water-sharing conflicts across the basin. It is implemented by Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) alongside executing partners like UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP).</p>

To strengthen the climate resilience of smallholder farmers and vulnerable rural communities through promotion of diversified, nature-based livelihoods, improved access to climate-linked financial services, and evidence-based scaling of climate-smart adaptation practices

Eastern and Southern Africa are highly vulnerable to climate change, facing recurrent droughts, floods, heatwaves, and increasingly erratic rainfall that intensify water stress and land degradation. These climate stresses are compounded by rapid population growth, projected to rise from around 749 million in 2023 to nearly 964 million by 2050, placing growing pressure on already overstretched infrastructure. In 2023, around 365 million people lacked access to electricity and 580 million lacked access to clean cooking, severely constraining adaptation, productivity, and health outcomes across the region.

The ASCENT-GREEN project  aims to support climate-vulnerable communities across 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa by catalysing private-sector delivery of distributed renewable energy, clean cooking, and productive-use energy. It seeks to increase climate resilience, drive economic development, and reduce emissions across some of the region's most remote and fragile contexts.

Structured around three components, the project will establish a regional energy access financing facility providing affordable lending, results-based financing, and technical assistance, prioritizing rural households, fragile, conflict-affected populations, small and medium-sized enterprises and women-owned enterprises; develop regional de-risking facilities including a risk-sharing facility and a carbon risk mitigation facility to crowd in private capital; and establish a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)-led regional platform to coordinate policy, technical assistance, and knowledge sharing across participating countries.

Through financing instruments that address barriers such as affordability, risk perception, and scaling up, the project will mobilise significantly larger private flows and accelerate market transformations, enabling far greater reach. It is expected to directly benefit 28.8 million people and indirectly reach a further 13.8 million, supporting improved access to energy services and enhanced resilience across participating countries.

Kenya ranks 150th on the ND-GAIN Climate Vulnerability Index, with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and farmers particularly exposed to intensifying droughts, floods, heat stress, and erratic rainfall. Their heavy reliance on climate-sensitive production systems, combined with lock-in to fossil-fuel- and biomass-intensive practices, undermines resilience and drives greenhouse gas emissions. Significant financial and non-financial barriers prevent these groups from investing in the climate-resilient solutions they need.

The project aims to establish and demonstrate a scalable, de-risked local currency lending facility enabling Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), serving as both Accredited Entity and Executing Entity, to sustainably expand climate finance to the country's most climate-vulnerable MSMEs and farmers. Through a blended structure and targeted technical assistance, the programme seeks to overcome structural financial and credit risk barriers that currently prevent lending to high-risk, underserved segments.

Structured around three components, the programme will establish a Climate-Smart Technology lending facility; strengthen KCB's climate impact and risk assessment frameworks and build capacity among loan officers, suppliers, and beneficiaries; and enhance institutional systems and knowledge sharing to scale climate-smart finance beyond the programme. 

It is expected to directly benefit 112,145 people and indirectly reach over 823,547, with activities primarily focused on the 34 most climate‑vulnerable counties in Kenya, where approximately 90 per cent of programme resources will be directed. The programme is aligned with Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plan (NAP), Vision 2030 and Green Economy Strategy.

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