Climate Change and the Energy and Manufacturing Sector

This 2014 briefing note examines the vulnerability of Kenya's manufacturing sector to climate change, specifically highlighting the risks of hydropower-dependent electricity generation and resource scarcity. It details the sector's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (5.8% of total Kenyan emissions in 2010) and outlines mitigation strategies such as energy efficiency, remanufacturing, and industrial ecology. The document also discusses the Kenyan government's 2013 roadmap to expand electricity capacity to 5,000 MW to improve reliability and sustainability.

• In 2010, Kenya's manufacturing sector contributed approximately 10.2 per cent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and accounted for about 9.8 per cent of the GDP. The sector is a major energy consumer, utilizing some 60 per cent of electricity consumption and employing 13 percent of the formal sector workforce.
• Climate change poses significant risks to Kenyan manufacturing through energy instability, resource scarcity, and infrastructure damage. Because a large portion of electricity is hydro-generated, reduced rainfall leads to power interruptions; for example, droughts between 1998 and 2000 resulted in industrial production losses of Ksh 110 billion. Additionally, the 1997-1998 El-Niño rains caused Ksh 62 billion in damage to transportation infrastructure.
• The Kenyan government introduced a roadmap in 2013 to increase electricity generation capacity from 1,664 MW to 5,000 MW. The goal was to reduce dependence on hydropower, which provided 50 per cent of capacity, with a predicted 2016 energy mix where 40 per cent of generation is renewable, including wind, geothermal, and hydro.
• Industrial fuel use and process emissions in the manufacturing sector were estimated at 2.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 5.8 per cent of total Kenyan greenhouse gas emissions in 2010.
• Several mitigation strategies are identified for the manufacturing sector to reduce emissions and costs: energy efficiency (e.g., the Kenya Association of Manufacturers’ energy audit programme), remanufacturing of items like automotive parts and toner cartridges, industrial ecology (e.g., using vegetable and flower waste to generate biogas in Naivasha), and onsite renewable power generation.
• The document recommends that manufacturing businesses undertake climate risk assessments focusing on physical risks to resources, infrastructure impacts (roads, ports, railways), regulatory risks such as insurance changes, and market risks related to transportation and energy costs.

APA

Murphy, D., & Harris, M. (2014). Climate Change and the Energy and Manufacturing Sector. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Climate-Change-and-the-Energy-Sector.pdf

Chicago

Murphy, Deborah, and Melissa Harris. Climate Change and the Energy and Manufacturing Sector. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Climate-Change-and-the-Energy-Sector.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Murphy |first1=Deborah |last2=Harris |first2=Melissa |title=Climate Change and the Energy and Manufacturing Sector |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=April 2014 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Climate-Change-and-the-Energy-Sector.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{murphy2014climate, author = {Murphy, Deborah and Harris, Melissa}, title = {{Climate Change and the Energy and Manufacturing Sector}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = apr, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Climate-Change-and-the-Energy-Sector.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }