The government is seeking partnerships with development partners and capital markets to unlock green financing for sustainable infrastructure and climate projects. National Environment Trust Fund (NETFUND) CEO Samson Toniok says technical assistance, guarantees and risk-sharing instruments will help attract investment. The initiative aims to turn Kenya’s climate commitments into measurable results.
The National Environment Trust Fund was established under the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999 and is mandated to mobilise resources for environmental conservation and management. Its role makes it a natural channel for pooling public and private finance for climate projects. The partnerships now being sought would build on that mandate.
Toniok says the partnerships will help overcome financing barriers facing viable green projects. Many climate projects are sound on paper but struggle to attract lenders, because they are seen as risky or lack bankable structures. Technical assistance can help prepare projects for investment, while guarantees and risk-sharing instruments reduce the risk that investors take on.
NETFUND has already built some experience with this kind of financing. In May 2025 it was accredited as the 36th National Implementing Entity under the Adaptation Fund’s direct access system. Kenya became the first country to have two such entities accredited, alongside the National Environment Management Authority, which allows local institutions to access climate funds directly.
Recent projects show the approach in practice. The fund secured $1.78 million, about Sh230.85 million, from the Global Environment Facility to restore forests and reduce land degradation in the Lake Naivasha Basin. In December 2025, it also launched a Sh667 million project to restore the Cherangany Forest ecosystem, with development partners.
The need is large. Kenya’s climate commitments, including its target of 10 percent tree cover, require far more finance than public budgets can provide alone. In 2021, the government set up a pooled financing facility with the United Nations to seek $432 million for tree planting, a model that shows how partners can share the cost of large programmes.
The instruments named by Toniok are common tools in green finance. Guarantees can give lenders comfort on long-term loans, while risk-sharing arrangements spread losses between public and private partners. Whether they will bring in new money depends on the terms and the quality of the projects selected.
The government says the goal is measurable results. Watch for named partners, signed financing agreements and the first projects supported through guarantees or risk-sharing. Those steps will show whether the plan moves from announcement to funded projects.
