In his first year as Head of State, Ruto hosted the Africa Climate Summit last week this September, bringing African leaders together to create a common continental framework for negotiations on climate financing and reparations.
The Africa Climate Summit’s stated aim was to foster “green growth and climate finance”, and much of the discussion on day one focused on the need to scale-up climate finance, as well as the vast economic opportunities that new carbon markets are set to provide African nations.
Ruto laid out a bold policy agenda for Kenya, including a target for Kenyans to have access to 100% clean cooking fuels by 2028, and the ambition to achieve a 100% renewable grid by 2030 and a 100GW grid by 2040.
Other issues he has pursued internationally include a common currency for intra-African trade to ease dollar pressure and lower interest rates on loans from multilateral lenders including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
