Climate funds reach millions as counties post 87pc performance rate

The National Treasury has revealed that there has been proper use of climate change funds by counties since disbursement started in February 2022.

Disbursed under Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) programme, it operates through two primary types of intergovernmental fiscal grants: County Climate Institutional Support (CCIS) grant and County Climate Resilience Investment (CCRI) grant.

The CCIS grant focuses on building the capacity of county governments, while CCRI is a performance-based grant used to finance actual climate change adaptation projects at the local level, such as water projects, agriculture and natural resource management.

“One million people have directly benefited from the climate resilient, planning, preparation, surveillance and response, while 2.5 million people have indirectly benefited, with 56 per cent of the beneficiaries being women,” said Peter Odhengo, programme coordinator, FLLoCA.

“Counties annual performance score is at 87 per cent, while the level of counties with functional assistance and institutions is now at 46 per cent. Relevant policies and legislation to enable climate finance flows have been developed.”

Nairobi and Mombasa counties had faced significant delays and, as of early 2026 and were locked out of accessing funds due to non-compliance with the required, high-threshold standards, such as missing legal frameworks.

The counties failed to establish necessary climate change legislation and budgetary non-compliance. They also did not allocate the required 1.5 per cent) of their development budgets to climate adaptation and lacked action plans due to failure to conduct the required Participatory Climate Risk Assessment (PCRA) at the ward level.

Odhengo said failure to comply denied the two counties a chance to build resilient capacities, resulting in the extreme floods recently experienced.

He stated that there has been enhanced conservation of landscapes (terrestrial and inland water areas) of 28, 000 hectares and 1,238 rural wards benefiting from programme- funded functioning resilience investments in the agriculture, environment, water and other prioritised sectors.

Dr Moses Pedo, programme manager in charge of finance and strategy at FLLoCA, said so far, Sh23.9 billion has been invested in supporting local adaptation, mitigation and integrated climate actions in water, environment, smart agriculture and projects, with Sh1.5 billion going into institutional support.

The FLLoCA funds are a grant from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) of $150 million (Sh19.3 billion ) and Sh80 million from the government, out of which Sh75 million is from counties and Sh5 million from the national government, totalling to $295 million(Sh38 billion) in the first phase. 

Odhengo said on average, qualifying counties have been getting $1.25 million(Sh16 billion) per year while 16 Western counties have been receiving an additional $2 million (Sh258 million).

Odhengo said 45 dedicated County Climate Change Fund and Climate Change Units have been established, same as mechanisms to engage communities planning in Participatory Risk Assessment and resilience planning, climate action and resilience building in county planning and budgeting with 45 County Climate Action Plan (CCAP) and County Integrated Development Plan (CIDPs) mainstreamed.

On lessons learnt, Odhengo observed that communities have been resourceful in climate change matters as stakeholder engagement forums have been key to coordinated financing, planning and implementation of climate actions across various sectors.

“The CCRI plans are important, mainstreaming of climate actions needs to start at the community level during the county budgeting and planning process and leveraging of available technology to enhance climate adaptation is key to building resilience,” Odhengo said.

However, Odhengo said the 10-year FLLoCA programme has had its own share of challenges. They include delays in procurement and implementation, high staff turnover in counties, political interference in some areas by some county bosses, capacity gaps in climate technical expertise and high community expectations.

He noted that they are looking at enhanced linkages through the African Development Action Network, scaling and replicating best practices and lessons learnt on FLLoCA at the continental level.

“We also plan to establish the Kenya Green Investment Bank aimed at accelerating Kenya’s transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy by mobilising private sector capital of $100 billion (Sh13 trillion) for green projects in addition to the establishment of the National Climate Change Fund as required by the Climate Change Act,” said Odhengo.