Members of Parliament have called for faster action to address Kenya’s growing climate challenges, urging the government and development partners to accelerate green investment and use technology to improve accountability.
The appeal was made during the Second Kenya Parliamentary Green Investment Dialogue in Kisumu, where more than 20 MPs joined climate experts, investors and development partners to discuss how to turn climate policies into practical projects.
The three-day meeting, themed From Policy to Pipeline: Advancing Clean Energy Investment in Kenya, is examining ways to speed up clean energy investment while strengthening oversight of climate finance.
Speaking at the opening session at the Acacia Premier Hotel, the Vice-Chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Environment, Forestry and Mining, Charity Kathambi Chepkwony, said Kenya must move beyond policy commitments and deliver projects that have a direct impact on communities.
“We are meeting at a time when Kenya must shift from awareness to action and accountability in its green investment agenda,” she said.
Ms Kathambi said political commitment alone would not achieve the country’s climate goals.
She called for investment-ready projects backed by financing mechanisms that reduce risk and attract both public and private investors.
The vice chair said County Integrated Development Plans and County Climate Change Action Plans should be used to build credible local project pipelines capable of securing investment.
The MP also urged Parliament, county governments and the private sector to work more closely to unlock blended and concessional financing for climate initiatives.
She encouraged legislators to strengthen their understanding of emerging financing opportunities, including carbon markets and green energy investment, saying this would help counties prepare bankable projects that could attract international funding.
Ms Kathambi said partnerships with organisations such as the Green Climate Fund, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Climate Parliament had helped shape Kenya’s approach to climate finance.
Delegates also stressed the need for better use of data to improve parliamentary oversight of climate programmes and spending.
Senator Mohamed Faki said lawmakers needed timely and reliable information to monitor climate commitments, assess implementation and ensure public funds deliver measurable results.
“Effective oversight requires more than general information. It requires reliable data that enables Parliament to track commitments, scrutinise implementation and assess outcomes,” he said.
Climate experts from the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES) announced plans to merge two existing digital platforms into a single National Monitoring and Oversight Tool.
AGNES Team Lead Dr George Wamukoya said the new platform would integrate the Climate Monitoring and Accountability Tool (CMAT) with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Learning (MERL) system, creating a single framework to track climate programmes from the ward level to Parliament.
He said the integrated system would address long-standing challenges caused by fragmented data and weak institutional coordination by providing real time information to support policy oversight and implementation.
Participants called on Parliament to institutionalise the use of digital monitoring systems to improve transparency, strengthen accountability and ensure climate finance delivers tangible benefits for communities across Kenya.
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