Kenyans can now track climate finance projects and spending in the country through a new web-based platform developed by Transparency International Kenya.
The Watch tool is designed to make information on climate financing available to the public and provide a clearer picture of how funds supporting climate interventions are being allocated and spent.
It is a platform developed to enhance accountability by monitoring climate funding and project allocations. The tool supports transparency by providing data analysis and visual representations of climate funds.
Transparency International Project Officer for Natural Resources and Climate Governance Andrew Letting said they have developed the tool after tracking climate finance data from 2020 to 2024.
He said the platform is intended to strengthen accountability by allowing stakeholders and Kenyans to access information on climate finance.
“We have been able to collect data since 2020 to 2024, and we have been able to track more than 100 projects. We know there is a lot of funding that comes in to support climate change intervention, so it's important to be able to track to ensure that there is accountability,” Letting said during a media roundtable on climate financing.
The tool is also expected to support advocacy and policy discussions by providing data that can help stakeholders identify trends in climate financing.
“The tool aims to inform data-driven advocacy, so that we advocate and inform our advocacy plans and engagements,” he said.
Data collected through the exercise shows that the World Bank is the biggest financier of climate interventions in Kenya among the projects tracked, followed by the African Development Bank.
He said the data also showed that a significant amount of climate financing was going towards mitigation rather than adaptation.
The findings come amid concerns over the ability of countries such as Kenya to access adequate financing to respond to the effects of climate change.
Letting said there appeared to be a decline in climate financing even as the impacts of climate change continued to increase.
“One of the key characteristics of climate finance that is coming out is that the World Bank is the biggest financier of climate intervention in Kenya, followed by the African Development Bank. There is a trend where climate finance is reducing, while the impacts are increasing,” he said.
He cited the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report, saying funding for adaptation had reduced by about $2 billion.
Letting said more advocacy and engagement was needed to ensure financing was better aligned with the realities communities were facing.
“There is a need to further advocacy and engagement to ensure that we bring at par what is happening in the ground and the financing,” he said.
Despite the work to improve transparency, Letting said access to complete climate finance data remained a challenge.
He said Transparency International identified around 500 projects in Kenya during its data collection exercise, but not all could be included in the tool because of gaps in the available information.
The organisation plans to continue updating the platform as more information becomes available.
“During this exercise, we were able to collect around 500 projects in Kenya, but due to challenges around the completeness of the data, we were not able to capture it in the tool,” he said.
Carbon projects are also covered by the tool, although Letting said there were still gaps in publicly available information.
He said Transparency International was yet to see the carbon registry by the National Environment Management Authority fully operational, almost a year after it was launched.
Letting urged government agencies and other stakeholders to work with Transparency International to improve the availability and quality of climate finance data.
He said the tool was intended to support stakeholders rather than target or accuse institutions.
Letting acknowledged that the information currently available on the platform was not fully up to date but said efforts were ongoing to improve it.
“Our message to stakeholders is that the tool is there to support them in accessing information. While the information is not up to date, we will continue updating,” he said.
He also invited stakeholders to partner with the organisation in tracking climate finance saying the tool is not meant to point fingers, but to show and pick up trends that can inform among them policy discussions.
Letting said the platform is an ongoing initiative that will continue to be developed.
