Assessing policy coherence for just energy transition in Kenya

Background

Only a few years remain to the 2030 target for both the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Many countries across the world, and specifically in Africa are not on track to meet the SDGs and Climate Goals by 2030. Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, through SDG 13 “Climate action” and in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, remains the single biggest challenge to pursuing development. Importantly, growing evidence demonstrates that climate action necessitates a transition addressing all dimensions of sustainability. The need to address distributional impacts, including poverty and inequality has become a critical requirement for climate action and development in low- and middle-income countries, including Africa.

Emerging evidence on the relationship between climate action and development in low-income economies points to potential distributional implications with outcomes affecting synergies and trade-off between climate action and poverty and inequality reduction policies. Although SDGs are considered as “integrated and indivisible”, the policies to enhance synergies among the different goals have not been adequately translated into strategies and actions that enable strong coherence between climate change and sustainable development in practice at the national and local levels.

The workshop is convened within the framework of two ongoing projects on “Implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs) in an incoherent world: Aligning climate action and reduced inequalities” (ClimEQ) and “Policies for enhanced transition to sustainable energy systems in Kenya” (PETSEK). The ClimEQ project involves multiple case studies in Kenya, Sweden, Germany, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and South Africa and involves an analysis of the conditions for, and politics of, coherent policies for climate change, reducing inequality and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the national level. It also includes the application of and capacity development in the use of the SDG-NDC tool for assessing synergies and trade-offs across different socio-economic and political contexts. The PETSEK project aims to build evidence on systemic factors leading to failures and successes of policy development and implementation towards a sustainable energy transition in Kenya. The workshop will thus enable learning and sharing of experiences and insights on how national characteristics shape the relationships between policy coherence and policy outcomes in the context of just energy transition in Kenya.

Workshop objectives

This workshop provides an interactive platform for sharing the research findings and co-creating with participants. The specific objectives of the workshop include:

1. Sensitize workshop participants to the concept of policy coherence as applied to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate action,
2. Present preliminary findings on drivers and consequences of policy coherence and incoherence between energy, climate and development goals from scoping case studies in Kenya Germany and South Africa.
3. Identify and propose policy measures that can promote positive outcomes for development, equality and climate.

Expected outputs

The expected output from the workshop will be a Summary Report highlighting the key issues emerging and recommendations for policy measures that can promote just energy transition in Kenya by reinforcing positive outcomes for development, equality and climate actions.

Expected outcomes

The expected outcomes include the following;

• Awareness and understanding of the SDG-NDC Synergies tool for exploring the synergies and trade-offs among the SDGs and climate goals at the national level.
• Sharing of lessons from other countries (South Africa and Germany) on just energy transition and the measures for enhancing policy coherence between development (inequality), climate and energy goals
• Increased awareness and understanding among the participants of the policy recommendations for mechanisms and tools for coherent implementation of climate and energy goals and achievement of equitable outcomes in Kenya.

References

Shawoo, Z., Dzebo, A. Hägele, R., Lacobuta, G., Chan, S., Muhoza, C., Osano, P., Francisco, M., Persson, Å., Linner, B-O. and Vijge, M.J. (2020). Increasing policy coherence between NDCs and SDGs: a national perspective. SEI policy brief. Stockholm Environment Institute. Stockholm: https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/increasing-policy-coherence-between-ndcs-and-sdgs-a-national-perspective.pdf.

Mbeo C. O., Osano P., Kingiri, A. and J.M. Okemwa (2021). Challenges and opportunities for the expansion of renewable electrification in Kenya, in Lema, R., Andersen, M. H., Hanlin R., & C. Nzila (eds). Building Innovation Capabilities for Sustainable Industrialization: Renewable Electrification in Developing Economies. Routledge. London: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003054665-3/challenges-opportunities-expansion-renewable-electrification-kenya-mbeo-calvince-ogeya-philip-osano-ann-kingiri-josephat-mongare-okemwa?context=ubx&refId=50aa5614-2d49-4869-8c28-24285924839c.