By Mike Olendo & Muthoni Rose
Cities generate most of the world’s carbon emissions, and by 2030 approximately 60 percent of the global population will live in cities. C40 is a group of the world's largest cities that have come together and committed to addressing climate change and its impacts. The initiative assists these cities in driving meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change, creating effective and efficient collaborations as well as knowledge sharing. Cities under the network are committed to delivering on the goals of the Paris Agreement at the local city level by reducing their GHG emissions, increasing their sustainability and eventually having healthier inhabitants.
To date, C40 cities have committed to reducing their emissions by a total of more than 3 gigatons of C02 by having zero carbon emissions per person living in the city by 2050. C40’s delivery model is city-led, data-driven, peer-to-peer sharing and has been seen to be very effective in accelerating climate action. The City of Nairobi joined the C40 alliance in 2016 and with one of the participatory requirements being adoption of a data driven approach towards climate change mitigation, there is a need to have a City inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To this end, C40 is helping the Nairobi County Government set up a Nairobi City GHG Inventory as well as the Climate Action Plan.
This objective is in line with Conservation Internationals (CIs) Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) Project which is geared towards supporting countries by enhancing capacities for the generation of more accurate and updated data on emissions in all sectors. This converging of goals between CI and C40 is what led to the collaboration between the two organizations to support Nairobi County’s efforts towards building a GHG Inventory. Part of that collaboration was demonstrated with CI supporting C40 and the Nairobi County Council hold a Swot Analysis Workshop at the Pride Inn Hotel Westlands in March of 2019. Partners present included the Climate Change Directorate, Ministry of Energy, GIZ TraCs program, Slum Dwellers International, Ministry of Health, Climate Care and Adaptation Consortium.
The workshop was aimed at supporting the County meet and deliberate on its GHG Inventory and its obligations in combating climate change. C40 was able to conduct a SWOT analysis on climate change actions in the City sectors in order to develop a baseline on climate action planning and in the process, explore avenues to build capacity for County officials on the Inventory process and linkage to the National GHG team. Eventually this process will help contribute to the development of a Climate Action Plan that will assist The City in achieving the C40 dream of reduced carbon emissions and healthy, sustainable cities. Achieving of these goals will be an ongoing process and CI hopes to continue building such partnerships and collaborations with like minded partners.
For more information, please contact Mike Olendo at molendo@conservation.org