Equity through its social arm, Equity Group Foundation (EGF) has so far planted 19 million trees in a bid to conserve the environment and help tackle the adverse effects of climate change across the country.
These efforts have been accelerated by its ambitious program to plant 35 million trees through Private and Public Partnerships with institutions and individuals. Majority of the trees planted are fruit and medicinal trees for commercial value aimed at improving the lives of local communities and farmers.
While speaking about this greening initiative during the announcement of the Half Year 2022 financial results, Equity Group CEO Dr James Mwangi urged Kenyans to join in the tree planting initiatives and more importantly refrain from cutting trees for fuel. To reduce over reliance on wood fuel, charcoal, and fossils fuels like kerosene as a source of energy, EGF has to date financed and distributed clean energy products benefitting over 350,380 households, 150 top schools across Kenya and hopes to hit 1000 schools by end of the year.
To reach a larger scale and create more impact, the Bank also created the world’s first energy loan dubbed Eco- Moto Loan available digitally via mobile network, Equitel. This has supported the SDG 7 of access to clean and affordable energy for all.
Tree planting is also one of the most effective ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. Based on data, a single mature tree can remove upwards of 25kgs of harmful greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Equity has other initiatives in the Energy and Environment space ongoing that have seen it plant more than 1 million trees in the Mau Water Tower.
The initiative is part of Kenya’s aim to plant 1.8 billion trees and achieve more than 10% forest cover in the country. Kenya continues to suffer severe deforestation mainly from various illegal activities such as unlicensed timber harvesting and charcoal production. After the perpetrators were removed by the Kenya Forest Service, the degraded lands never regenerated.
A Multi-agency Climate Science by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), under the direction of the UN Secretary-General, report warns that “urgent action is needed to mitigate emissions and adapt to our changing climate.” It also notes that climate-related disasters “set back progress towards achieving the [SDGs] and exacerbate existing poverty and inequality.” The report provides unified scientific information on some of the current and projected climate change impacts to inform decision makers.
