Why Ruto Wants COP Global Climate Meetings Cancelled

He further opined that the number of emissions generated by thousands of delegates and their entourage who travel to the venue by jet, plane and other fossil fuel-powered means of transport for the world's biggest climate change conference hosted by the United Nations (UN) every year contribute immensely to emissions of huge proportions thus polluting the environment.

President William Ruto arrives at UN Headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi for the United Nations Habitat Assembly on June 5, 2023. /PCS

The five-day event in Nairobi is bringing together leaders and various stakeholders from around the world to discuss how to create more liveable, sustainable and resilient cities.

"Our ambition to be the home of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, was inspired by a deep commitment to pursue economic development together with sustainable urbanisation in harmony with the preservation of our natural heritage," the President added while announcing that Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja had moved all delegates to the venue of the conference in eco-friendly buses.

Ruto further underscored Kenya's experience in balancing the imperatives of industrialisation, sustainable urbanisation and environmental stewardship as fundamental components of socio-economic transformation have had its challenges and setbacks.

“Even now, challenges exist with a variety, and on a scale that is unprecedented. The world is emerging from a devastating pandemic, whilst grappling with a relentless economic crisis driven by geopolitical tension, as well as the triple planetary crisis of pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change.

"As a consequence, millions of people throughout the world have been adversely affected, including through threats to life and to livelihoods,” President Ruto explained.

The Head of State told delegates that the country’s progress in affirming the fundamental right to decent housing is critical to the achievement of sustainable urbanisation in terms of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 11.

Simply put, he used the conference to drum up support for the affordable housing agenda whereby he plans to build 200,000 houses every year targeting low-income earners to accommodate what he termed as a growing population.

“Recognising this imperative and realising that more than half of Kenya’s population will live in urban areas by 2050, we have integrated universal housing as a critical pillar of the national bottom-up economic transformation agenda. Into the housing programme, we have further mainstreamed sustainable urban practices of green building, green spaces, adoption of low-carbon energy use, including low-carbon transport solutions, as well as urban agriculture and effective waste management," he added.

The President went ahead to explain how the country is restoring degraded landscapes and ecosystems through a robust programme that includes increasing Kenya’s tree cover from 12.13 per cent to 30 per cent, by planting 15 billion trees over the next 10 years.

At COP 27, President Ruto in his speech on behalf of the African continent cornered the West for what he described as "evasion and delaying tactics" in dealing with regions like Africa, which bear the brunt of the effects of climate change, noting that by 2050, climate impacts could cost African nations Ksh6.9 trillion ($50 billion) annually.

"Against this backdrop, the lengthy discussions at COPs, with its stalling, delaying tactics and procrastination that have hampered implementation and delivery, is simply cruel and unjust.

"We cannot afford to spend more time skirting around the real issues and we must break out of the open-ended, process-focused discussions we are trapped in. Further delay will make us busy spectators as calamity wipes out lives and livelihoods," stated Ruto in his COP 27 speech on November 7, 2022.