WWF-Kenya and KCB Group have on Friday announced a strategic partnership to unlock climate finance for initiatives that create sustainable livelihoods while accelerating nature-positive investments through KCB Group’s KSh 10 billion Green Climate Fund facility.
The partnership was announced at Panda House, Nairobi, as WWF-Kenya celebrated 10 years of impact as an autonomous office within the global conservation organisation WWF, building on a conservation legacy in Kenya that stretches back to 1962.
Under the partnership, the two organisations will mobilise blended finance to scale nature-based enterprises, build a pipeline of bankable nature-positive projects, strengthen sustainable finance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, and unlock public and private resources for conservation and climate resilience.
The partnership extends beyond enterprise finance. WWF-Kenya and KCB Group will also collaborate on tree growing and landscape restoration, institutional clean cooking and solarisation initiatives, and ESG frameworks and reporting.
The collaboration builds on earlier work between the two organisations, including the development of a case study demonstrating how financial institutions can integrate nature-related risks into governance structures and lending decisions.
The announcement signals a clear direction for WWF-Kenya’s next decade as it works with Kenya’s leading corporates to increase investment in nature-positive solutions. Earlier this year, WWF-Kenya and Old Mutual Holdings announced a three-year partnership to restore 100 hectares of the degraded Chepalungu Forest.
Since becoming a National Office in 2016, WWF-Kenya has grown its programme investments from just over KES 600 million in FY17 to KES 1.6 billion in FY26.
“Since 2020, we have supported the restoration of more than 278,000 hectares of diverse ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, riparian areas and rangelands. We have also helped mobilise more than US$132 million, equivalent to approximately KES 17.18 billion, in sustainable investments over the past seven years. This is the scale of impact that must now be accelerated through stronger partnerships with Kenya’s corporate sector,” said Jackson Kiplagat, Chief Executive Officer, WWF-Kenya.
WWF’s conservation legacy in Kenya spans more than six decades, tracing its roots to a year before the country’s independence. One of WWF’s earliest achievements was the raising of funds in 1973 to purchase 37,000 acres of land that was handed over to the Government of Kenya to expand the size of Lake Nakuru National Park to its current size of 188km2 and establishment of the country’s first rhino sanctuaries in the same park in 1987.
“Over the past seven years, WWF-Kenya has directly benefited more than 369,000 people, helping generate over KES 600 million in income for communities. These outcomes demonstrate that conservation and economic development can go hand in hand when communities are at the centre of the solution,” added Jackson.
Among the conservation successes highlighted during the anniversary celebrations was the recovery of Kenya’s black rhino population. Through collaboration among conservation partners led by the Kenya Wildlife Service, the population has grown to 1,147 animals in 2025 from fewer than 400 in the 1980s when poaching had significantly reduced their numbers.
On greening finance, WWF-Kenya has also worked with the Kenya Bankers Association to help financial institutions integrate climate and nature-related risks into their operations, making sustainability an important consideration in investment decisions.
“As WWF-Kenya marks 10 years as a National Office, we are looking firmly towards the next decade. The challenge before us is not simply to protect nature, but to help build an economy in which nature sits at the heart of investment and development decisions. This partnership with KCB connects conservation with enterprise and finance, so that communities and businesses can prosper while helping nature recover,” said Jackson.
The anniversary, held under the theme Nature’s Terms Apply, brought together government, business, development partners and communities around a shared message: Kenya’s economy depends on healthy natural systems, and protecting them is a shared responsibility. #NiSisiSote
