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Stop opaque carbon credits trade in Kajiado or ship out, firms warned
A 2023 investigation by the Daily Nation revealed that several carbon credit initiatives in Kenyan community forests overstated their climate impact while offering limited benefits to local communities
Carbon credit firms operating in Kajiado County have been ordered to fully disclose their pricing models, projected revenues, project costs, risks, and revenue-sharing structures with communities before being issued a Letter of No Objection from the county government, or risk sanctions.
The stringent measures by a nine-member Kajiado County Assembly Sectoral Committee on Water, Environment and Natural Resources, aimed at tightening oversight of carbon credit firms and enhancing transparency in the multimillion-shilling trade, follow a petition by Kajiado West residents filed in July 2025.
The 13 petitioners from Ewuaso Oonkidong’i Ward described the carbon credit offset schemes as flawed, opaque, market-driven solutions that tend to exaggerate climate benefits and underestimate potential harms.
Key issues raised in the petition included a lack of meaningful public participation and violations of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) requirements for Indigenous Peoples and community landowners.
Another pertinent issue was the non-transparent benefit-sharing arrangements, including premature token payments and unclear revenue models.
Notably, in 2023 Governor Joseph Ole Lenku revoked all existing carbon credit agreements citing corruption. However, a few months after the dust had settled, brokerage firms reportedly resurfaced under questionable circumstances.
NEMA was appointed as the Designated National Authority (DNA) for carbon markets, following the gazettement of the Climate Change (Carbon Markets) Regulations. This designation grants NEMA the responsibility to regulate and approve all carbon market projects in Kenya, including those under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Among the measures the committee has recommended to safeguard vulnerable locals is a call for the devolved unit to fast‑track amendments to the Kajiado County Climate Change Act so that it fully aligns with the national climate change law.
Further, all carbon project proponents should be required to obtain a formal Letter of No Objection from the County Government as a mandatory precondition for registration with NEMA and entry into the National Carbon Registry.
The County Government has also been tasked with closely monitoring all carbon projects operating under the transition period provided in the Carbon Markets Regulations, 2024, which ends on 17 May 2026, to ensure full compliance with the law. No extensions should be granted to proponents who fail to demonstrate good-faith efforts toward compliance.
In addition, the devolved unit has been given the core responsibility of establishing and maintaining a County Carbon Project and Developer Registry to track approved projects, monitor compliance, and enhance transparency and oversight.
“Non-compliant developers should be subject to sanctions, including suspension or withdrawal of county approvals,” the report concludes.
Carbon credit trading allows companies and individuals to account for their unavoidable emissions by buying carbon credits from certified activities that support community development, protect ecosystems, or install efficient technology to reduce or remove emissions from the atmosphere.
A quality carbon credit means one tonne of carbon dioxide has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. Furthermore, this reduction or removal has been certified under an internationally recognised carbon standard.
Another nature-asset frontier currently gaining traction in Kajiado County is biodiversity credits.
Biodiversity credits are a form of investment that funds conservation and restoration efforts.
Landowners are expected to gain an additional revenue source by conserving their land and protecting nature.
Much like carbon credits, biodiversity credits are generated through conservation and restoration, with each credit assigned a value equivalent to a certain area of land conserved or restored for a given length of time. The price and unit of a biodiversity credit can vary widely.
In some schemes, a credit represents a basket of outcomes that benefit biodiversity. In others, it is a single metric, the number of trees of a given species protected, or a calculation of the protection of an area for a fixed period of time.
According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum, global demand for biodiversity credits could reach USD 2 billion by 2030 and USD 69 billion by 2050.
