Climate advocates say Kenya’s strong renewable-energy base gives the country an opportunity to accelerate towards 100% clean electricity rather than deepen long-term dependence on fossil fuels.
As communities around the world mobilise this week for a fossil-free future, climate advocates in Nairobi are calling for African governments to accelerate investment in renewable energy and avoid locking their economies into decades of new fossil-fuel infrastructure.
Earlier today, Climate Action Network Africa (CAN Africa) joined the Office for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) – Franciscans Africa, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), CAN Eastern Africa and 13 other partners from the interfaith and climate justice community for a Climate Walk through Nairobi, followed by a collective artivism action at CUEA.
The action, co-funded by the European Union as part of the Funding Fairer Futures initiative, comes at a moment when major fossil-fuel developments are advancing across East Africa.
The 1,443-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), designed to transport Uganda’s crude oil to Tanzania’s coast, had reached 92.7% overall completion by the beginning of September 2026, according to the project company.
Uganda expects its oil developments to reach peak production of about 230,000 barrels per day. In Kenya, Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote is proposing a $15–16 billion, 700,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Lamu, with construction targeted to begin in 2026 and completion envisaged around 2030.
President William Ruto has backed the proposal, citing potential benefits including reducing Kenya’s reliance on imported refined petroleum products, while reporting by Reuters has also highlighted financing, crude-supply, infrastructure and environmental challenges facing the project.
CAN Africa says those developments raise a fundamental question for the region: whether countries should commit scarce investment and infrastructure to expanding fossil-fuel systems at the same time that the global energy transition is accelerating.
“We recognise that African countries are starting from very different energy realities, and some remain far more dependent on fossil fuels than others. But Kenya already receives nearly four-fifths of the electricity supplied to its grid from renewable sources,
“giving it a strong foundation from which to move faster towards 100% clean renewable electricity. New long-term fossil-fuel investments risk pulling in the opposite direction.
“We want African governments to build on the continent’s renewable-energy potential rather than lock future generations into another cycle of dirty energy dependence.” – said Ms Ajra Mohamed, the Campaign Lead at CAN Africa.
The debate is particularly significant for Kenya because the country already has a strong renewable-electricity foundation.
According to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, renewable sources accounted for 78.79% of electricity supplied to Kenya’s national grid between July and December 2025, while renewables represented 80.60% of the country’s installed generation capacity.
Geothermal alone supplied just over 40% of electricity generation during the period. From walking to painting the energy future Following the Climate Walk from Kenya Wildlife Services along Langata Road to the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), CAN Africa facilitated a participatory artivism activity titled “Creating Our Clean, 100% Renewable Energy Future.”
Participants collectively painted a large canvas contrasting two possible energy futures: continued fossil-fuel dependence on one side, and a clean, renewable-energy future on the other.
The central messages were, “No New Fossil Fuels” and “Yes to a Fair, Fast, Equitable and Just Transition to 100% Clean Renewable Energy.”
Participants also added their own demands describing the kind of energy future they want and the message they would like leaders to hear.
A Nairobi action connected to a global movement The Nairobi mobilisation formed a strong conclusion to the September Global Week of Action to End Fossil Fuels, which started on 14 September and ends tomorrow under a globally coordinated push for a fossil-free future.
Among the campaign’s global demands are an end to new fossil-fuel expansion, a rapid and equitable phase-out of existing fossil-fuel infrastructure, a direct transition to 100% renewable energy for all, increased climate finance for the Global South and greater accountability for major polluters.
The mobilisation is intended not only to oppose fossil-fuel expansion, but also to make visible the alternative: energy systems that campaigners say should be affordable, reliable, publicly accountable and capable of supporting livelihoods, resilience and development.
