Prisons to transition to clean energy by 2028 - PS Salome

The State Department for Correctional Services has set 2028 as the deadline for all the correctional institutions to transition from wood fuel to clean energy, a shift that is aligned with the government's climate agenda.

During a multi-agency consultative meeting held on Thursday, June 4, Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco raised concerns that the institutions consume the largest amount of wood fuel in Kenya, indicating that each inmate consumes an average of 2.5 kilograms of wood fuel daily.

Echoing her sentiments, the government's Special Envoy for Climate Change, Ambassador Ali Daud Mohamed, pledged technical support towards the initiative, where he highlighted the essence of capacity building meant for the trainee inmates.

He noted that training inmates in clean energy technologies such as biogas would enhance rehabilitation and improve their prospects upon reintegration into society.

During the meeting, the stakeholders agreed that a mapping exercise should be undertaken to identify the most suitable clean energy solution for each institution based on available resources, infrastructure and location.

Among the options under consideration are the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), biogas, solar-powered systems and induction cooking technologies."

The meeting also acknowledged carbon financing as a source of funding to support the rollout and long-term sustainability of clean energy systems in correctional institutions.

The project team was instructed to go through the concept note, establish data collection tools and begin field data collection within the next two weeks.

The transition aligns with the Kenya National Cooking Transition Strategy (2024–2028) and the government's National Tree Growing and Restoration Campaign, which aims to grow 15 billion trees by 2032.