- The countries will lead in forming voluntary coalitions of member states willing to work together to develop shared strategies on geothermal energy and literacy.
- Commonwealth deputy secretary-general Arjoon Suddhoo, said the initiative is Commonwealth's flagship for accelerating the global energy transition.
Kenya and the Kingdom of Eswatini will be the champions of geothermal energy and energy literacy in the Commonwealth Sustainable Energy Transition agenda.
The decision was made during a side event in the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali that concluded on Sunday.
According to a dispatch by the Commonwealth, Kenya and Eswatini will in their new roles lead in forming voluntary coalitions of member states willing to work together to develop strategies on geothermal energy and literacy.
Commonwealth deputy secretary-general Arjoon Suddhoo said the initiative is Commonwealth's flagship for accelerating the global energy transition.
"Our Commonwealth is blessed with a wealth of precious natural resources, including renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave energy. However, our shared economic recovery will depend upon learning from the past and continuing to learn from one other as we build a better future.
"The SDGs point the way, particularly SDG7 on sustainable energy, SDG13 on climate change, and SDG14 concerning the ocean: Maximising the untapped potential of geothermal energy," Suddhoo said.
KenGen managing director and CEO Rebecca Miano said Kenya is pleased to take the lead to champion the Action Group on geothermal energy under the CSET Agenda.
"Globally, geothermal energy makes up less than one per cent of renewable energy sources, but the significant potential exists to increase this to make geothermal baseload by 2050.
"Kenya is already leading the way in this sector. We are happy to share best practices and in-depth experience with fellow Commonwealth countries who also wish to develop this opportunity and to contribute to the global transition to low carbon forms of energy," Miano said in a statement read on her behalf by a representative.
The commonwealth dispatch said four Commonwealth member countries have installed geothermal energy, and New Zealand and Kenya have the highest installed capacity at 984 MW and 823.8 MW, respectively, followed by Papua New Guinea (56 MW) and Australia (0.31 MW).
