Kenyan firms honoured for climate solutions

Ashden's Head of Awards Dr Stephen Hall. [Ashden]

Four Kenyan organisations have been shortlisted for The 2023 Ashden Awards, which honours efforts towards global climate solutions.

They include Aceleron, which repurposes waste batteries turning them into energy storage technology for homes, offices and electric vehicles and Women in Sustainable Energy and Entrepreneurship, which empowers women in the renewable energy sector.

The others are USAFI Green, which manufactures and supplies affordable, low-carbon cookstoves in Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp, and Farmer Lifeline Technologies, which helps farmers in Kenya beat pests and disease - with an affordable solar-powered device that scans crops for signs of danger.

Announced on Earth Day 2023 last week, The Ashden Awards shortlist highlights 32 inclusive climate solutions to power the earth's future and regenerate the world, Ashden says.

"75 per cent of the organisations shortlisted from the Global South are from Africa. They range from a scheme bringing clean energy to 2 million people in Nigeria, to work raising the incomes of rainforest communities in Cameroon," it says.

Other African organisations in the shortlist come from Ethiopia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Uganda. All shortlisted projects and organisations "are tackling key climate challenges creating fairer societies as well as lower emissions", Ashden says.

Winning organisations, chosen by panels of expert judges, will be revealed soon, and will benefit from a cash prize and publicity, as well as new connections to investors, funders and policymakers.

Ashden's Head of Awards Dr Stephen Hall called the shortlist "a breathtaking collection of climate trailblazers".

"We have again been stunned by the range and excellence of climate innovation presented by African organisations. Their work proves we can successfully tackle climate change alongside the world's other great challenges - like gender inequality, poverty, and the marginalisation of refugees, Indigenous Peoples and other vulnerable groups," he said.

"Our 2023 shortlists prove once again Africa is a hotbed of climate innovation - funding and investment into this great work must be stepped up if we are to meet climate and development goals, such as connecting everyone to clean energy by 2030."

Dr Hall said that even as Africa faces the world's greatest energy poverty challenge, it is also home to many pioneering solutions.

"In every award category, we've seen exciting potential to create stable green jobs and livelihoods. We now need global leaders to recognise the potential for clean energy and regenerative solutions, to drive fairer and more productive economies," he said.