Kenya court cancels country’s first coal power plant

In a landmark ruling, the appellate court of Kenya’s Kilifi County reaffirmed the obligatory nature of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement of 2015. The judgement, dated October 16, 2025, upheld the earlier decision to cancel permission for construction of the coal-based power plant.

Kenya’s Vision 2030 document, released in 2007, envisioned the country becoming a middle-income economy with the goal of improving living conditions for its citizens.

The project and its origins

In 2013, the Government of Kenya announced plans to develop a 1,050 MW coal-fired electricity plant — the country’s first — in the Lamu archipelago on the east coast. It was initially to run on imported coal from South Africa and Zimbabwe, and later on coal from Kenya’s newly discovered Mui Basin reserves in Kitui County.

According to World Bank estimates for 2024, Kenya ranks as the seventh-largest economy in Africa, with a per capita income of $2,206.1 and a medium Human Development Index (HDI) score of 0.628. Kenya’s developmental trajectory has been unique, driven by its extensive use of geothermal energy.

The Last Mile Connectivity Project, launched in 2015, is on track to achieve 100 per cent electrification by 2030. Since 2020, Kenya’s per capita electricity usage has risen by 74 per cent to 0.19 megawatt-hour, an increase achieved without the use of coal or natural gas. The country does, however, depend on electricity imports, particularly from Ethiopian hydropower.

Announced as a step toward energy self-sufficiency and investment growth, the Lamu coal plant was projected to become East Africa’s tallest structure, with a 210-metre smokestack. Amu Power, a consortium of Kenyan companies, won the contract to operate the project.

International finance soon followed: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) committed $900 million in export credit, while its affiliate, South African Standard Bank, added $300 million, together covering 60 per cent of the project’s financing. Two Chinese state-owned companies, Power Construction Corporation of China and China Huadian Corporation, were to build and operate the plant.

In 2018, Amu Power signed a deal with United States-based General Electric for a one-fifth stake in the project, including the supply of key components and the use of ultra-supercritical technology to enhance efficiency and lower carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

Environmental and climate concerns

From an environmental standpoint, the coal project immediately raised concerns. Its proposed site on Lamu’s lush mangrove coast, just 20 kilometres from Lamu Old Town, threatened an area designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2001. The old town, the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa, has been continuously inhabited for more than 700 years. With vehicular movement restricted around the archipelago, local communities raised alarm about the project’s impact on marine ecology and livelihoods, particularly fishing.

Kenya’s Climate Change Act 2016 recognises climate change mitigation as a legal right. The country’s National Climate Change Action Plan commits to low-carbon development, and under its NDCs to the Paris Agreement, Kenya aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below its Business as Usual (BAU) scenario of 153 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂e) (including land-use change) by 2030.

According to Kenya’s third submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), total CO₂ emissions in 2022 were estimated at 113.4 MtCO₂e (including land use). The Lamu plant alone was projected to emit 8.8 million tonnes of CO₂ annually once fully operational, doubling the power sector’s total emissions and accounting for about 8 per cent of Kenya’s national total.

A June 2019 report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that the Lamu plant would have been underutilised until at least 2037, given Kenya’s electricity demand projections and the priority given to geothermal energy production.

Verdict with international resonance

Kenya’s environmental laws require all major projects to undergo a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) evaluating impacts on air quality, marine ecosystems, and local livelihoods. The EIA must also assess consistency with Kenya’s climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.

Although the coal plant was proposed in 2013 — two years before the Paris Agreement — the appellate court held that Kenya’s obligations under the UNFCCC form part of enforceable international law. The court recognized that studying the physical impact of climate change resulting from increasing greenhouse gas emissions is a core part of Kenya’s UNFCCC commitments.

Furthermore, the court reiterated the government’s obligations to promote low carbon technologies and reduce emission intensity. It found the approval of a carbon-intensive project without due consideration to its implications as a gross violation of the citizens’ constitutional rights.

Emily Kinama, head at the Nairobi-based Katiba Institute, has described the judgement as a reaffirmation of a people-centered approach in environmental governance, especially for the people of Lamu and Kenya in general.

The judgement can be seen in the larger context of the recent advisory opinion of International Court of Justice on Climate Change, wherein the court affirmed the legal duty of sovereign states to undertake their best efforts towards mitigation of GHG emissions, including regulating the conduct of public and private operators within the states’ jurisdiction.

The ruling cements Kenya’s position as a climate-progressive state in Africa, demonstrating that constitutional environmental rights and global climate pledges are enforceable, not symbolic. It also sends a signal to other developing nations balancing growth and decarbonisation that the decoupling of energy access from CO2 emissions is a necessary goal moving forward.