Kenya’s cooling challenges and opportunities

Kenya faces significant cooling challenges, with 40% of agricultural produce lost annually due to inadequate cold chains and government health facilities seeing minimal electricity access improvements (69% to 70% between 2016 and 2021). While the cold chain market is projected to reach USD 2.1 billion by 2030, the sector is hindered by fragmented infrastructure and high costs for small-scale farmers. In the health sector, the Ministry of Health aims to equip all facilities with optimal Cold Chain Equipment by 2026, having already deployed 8,342 refrigerators. Urban areas like Mombasa and Nairobi's Kibera settlement suffer from the urban heat island effect and poor building design, with 90% of available air conditioners being low-efficiency models. Additional cooling needs are identified in data centres and planned nuclear power plants in Kilifi and Kwale.

• Inadequate storage and transportation lead to the annual loss of 40 percent of agricultural produce in Kenya, contributing to food insecurity affecting approximately 25 percent of the population.
• The market for cold chain infrastructure in Kenya is expected to reach USD 2.1 billion by 2030, though current infrastructure is fragmented and primarily serves high-value exports, leaving local produce in regions like Homa Bay, Kiambu, and Turkana vulnerable.
• Electricity access at government-operated health facilities in Kenya remained nearly stagnant between 2016 and 2021, moving from 69 percent to 70 percent, while residential access grew from 52 percent to 70 percent in a similar period.
• The Kenyan Ministry of Health aims to provide all facilities with optimal Cold Chain Equipment (CCE) by 2026; to date, 8,342 refrigerators have been deployed, including 3,082 new units (20 percent of which are solar-direct drive).
• Urban heat island effects and poor construction cause significant overheating in Kenyan cities; Mombasa temperatures can be 6°C higher than surrounding areas, and 90 percent of air conditioners on the market are low-efficiency models.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (n.d.). Kenya’s cooling challenges and opportunities. https://www.seforall.org/kenyas-cooling-challenges-and-opportunities

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Kenya’s cooling challenges and opportunities. n.d. https://www.seforall.org/kenyas-cooling-challenges-and-opportunities.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Kenya’s cooling challenges and opportunities |url=https://www.seforall.org/kenyas-cooling-challenges-and-opportunities |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforallndkenyas, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Kenya’s cooling challenges and opportunities}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/kenyas-cooling-challenges-and-opportunities}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }