{"id":1526,"date":"2026-03-24T11:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/?p=1526"},"modified":"2026-04-03T08:07:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:07:52","slug":"building-the-foundation-for-climate-and-nature-governance-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/building-the-foundation-for-climate-and-nature-governance-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the Foundation for Climate and Nature Governance Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

1.Equipping Directors to Govern Nature: The TNFD Board Training<\/h2>\n
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Convened by WWF Kenya in partnership with CGI Kenya and Deloitte 1.5-Day Training Programme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Nature is not a backdrop to Kenya’s economy, it is the economy. Agriculture, tourism, fisheries, water, and energy all depend on functioning ecosystems, from the Mau Forest water tower to the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean coast. Yet for too long, nature-related risks have been invisible in corporate risk registers and absent from boardroom agendas. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has changed that, providing, for the first time, a globally recognised framework for boards to identify, assess, and disclose the risks and opportunities that arise from their organisations’ dependencies and impacts on nature. This intensive 1.5-day training, developed following TNFD’s “Welcome to the Board” learning modules and delivered in partnership with Deloitte, was designed to place that framework squarely in the hands of Kenyan directors.<\/p>\n

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Over two days, participating board members and senior executives were taken on a structured journey, from the foundational science of why nature matters to business and financial systems, through the global momentum behind nature-related disclosure (and its alignment with ISSB, TCFD, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework), to the practical governance responsibilities that fall on directors. The training culminated in a hands-on boardroom simulation using the TNFD’s LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare), in which directors worked through a realistic nature-related strategic decision, assessing ecosystem dependencies, financial exposures, and disclosure requirements in real time. Participants left with a customised roadmap for integrating nature into their boards’ governance, risk management, and long-term strategy, and a clear understanding that in Kenya, where GDP rises and falls with the health of natural systems, nature governance is not an optional add-on. It is a fiduciary imperative.<\/p>\n

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2. The Chair’s Role in Leading Climate and Nature: The Deloitte Chairman’s Series<\/h2>\n

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The Deloitte Global Chairman’s Series is one of the firm’s most distinguished thought leadership platforms, convening influential leaders worldwide to explore the most pressing issues facing business and society. For the first time in East Africa, Deloitte brought the Chairman’s Series to the climate and nature agenda, hosting a breakfast event under the theme “The Chair’s Role in Leading Climate and Nature Board Responsibilities.”\u00a0The premise was direct: climate and nature have moved from the fringes to the center of value creation. For boards, this is no longer about compliance, it is about competitive advantage, market positioning, and long-term shareholder value. And it starts at the top, with the Chair.<\/p>\n

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The morning brought together board chairs and directors from across Kenya’s corporate landscape for a programme that combined a keynote address by CGI Convenor Caroline Okong’o on the evolving governance expectations facing directors, a presentation by a Deloitte East Africa Partner on regional climate and nature trends, including risks, opportunities, and practical case studies, and a moderated multi-sector panel discussion that opened the floor to candid peer-to-peer exchange. For many participants, this was the first time climate and nature had been framed not as an environmental or CSR concern, but as a core governance responsibility with direct implications for strategy, risk appetite, and fiduciary duty. The event set a powerful precedent: when Africa’s leading professional services firm puts climate and nature at the centre of its Chairman’s Series, it sends an unmistakable signal to every boardroom in the region that the era of climate governance has arrived.<\/p>\n

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3. Embedding Climate Governance in Institutional Investment: The FSD Africa Investor Roundtable<\/h2>\n
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Convened by FSD Africa in partnership with CGI Kenya 10 February 2026 | Radisson Blu Hotel, Nairobi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Capital allocation is one of the most powerful levers for driving climate and nature action, and institutional investors sit at the controls. Pension funds, insurance companies, banks, and development finance institutions collectively manage the assets that underpin Kenya’s long-term economic resilience. Yet climate and nature risks remain insufficiently integrated into investment mandates, portfolio construction, and fiduciary decision-making. This exclusive breakfast roundtable, convened by FSD Africa in partnership with Chapter Zero Kenya, brought together board members and senior leaders of Kenya’s most influential institutional investors to confront a critical question: are we governing climate and nature risk as a material factor in portfolio performance, or are we leaving long-term value on the table?<\/p>\n

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The forum opened with a keynote by Jonathan Stitchbury, Managing Director and CEO of Sanlam Allianz Investments, on the role of climate and sustainability in achieving long-term investment returns, followed by an institutional investor case study on weaving climate governance into investment decision-making. CGI Convenor Caroline Okong’o presented the Chapter Zero Kenya vision and the global Climate Governance Initiative network. The centerpiece of the morning was a panel discussion featuring leaders from FSD Africa Investments, ICEA LION Group, Sanlam Allianz, and a leading Kenyan bank, exploring the role that long-term capital holders play in driving climate and nature-positive investments. Participants left with a sharpened understanding that climate governance is not a constraint on returns, it is the foundation of sustainable wealth creation. For Kenya’s capital markets to lead in Africa, the boards that steward institutional capital must lead first.<\/p>\n

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4. Climate and Nature Governance for Government Leadership: The Burson Roundtable<\/h2>\n
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Convened by Burson in partnership with CGI Kenya and WWF Kenya 4 December 2025 | Villa Rosa Kempinski, Nairobi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Government leaders, from regulators and policymakers to heads of state-owned enterprises and public agencies, are at the frontline of the climate and nature transition. They set the policy frameworks, enforce disclosure requirements, manage sovereign assets, and steward the public institutions on which millions of Kenyans depend. Yet the tools and frameworks being developed globally to govern climate and nature risk, TNFD, ISSB, climate scenario analysis, have largely been framed for the private sector. This half-day programme, convened by Burson in partnership with CGI Kenya and WWF Kenya, was specifically designed to bridge that gap: equipping executive leadership teams in government with the governance capabilities, disclosure fluency, and strategic frameworks needed to lead the integration of climate and nature into public sector decision-making.<\/p>\n

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The programme combined a keynote address by WWF Kenya’s Yussuf Mohammed on leading from the front on climate and nature governance, with a deep technical session delivered by PwC’s Akinyemi Awodumila on the TNFD framework and its application for regulators, supervisory authorities, and national agencies. Participants explored how TNFD complements existing environmental impact assessment processes, national monitoring systems, and natural capital accounting, and how it can be embedded into mandatory disclosure frameworks, financial supervision, and cross-government policy coordination. The morning culminated in an experiential scenario exercise, in which government leaders worked in small groups to assess a climate and nature risk scenario, identify governance implications, and develop strategic oversight actions. The event underscored a vital message: climate and nature governance is not the exclusive domain of the private sector. When government leaders govern with climate and nature at the centre, they set the conditions for an entire economy to build resilience, attract investment, and protect the natural systems on which Kenya’s prosperity depends.<\/p>\n

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5. Climate at the Heart of Corporate Strategy: The NSE CEO Breakfast Forum<\/h2>\n
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Convened by the Nairobi Securities Exchange in partnership with CGI Kenya 10 December 2025 | Capital Club, Nairobi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The Nairobi Securities Exchange occupies a singular position in Kenya’s governance landscape. As the platform through which listed companies access capital, report performance, and demonstrate governance standards, the NSE has the reach and authority to shape how an entire market approaches climate and nature. This exclusive CEO Breakfast Forum, hosted by NSE CEO Frank Mwiti and convened in partnership with CGI Kenya, marked the first time the Exchange formally brought climate and nature governance to the top of its corporate engagement agenda. The message to the CEOs in the room was unambiguous: climate and nature are no longer peripheral, they are core drivers of enterprise value, market positioning, and long-term competitiveness. For NSE-listed companies, excellence in climate and nature governance is now a condition of capital market leadership.<\/p>\n

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The forum opened with a keynote from Nairobi Securities Exchange CEO, Mr. Frank Mwiti on weaving climate governance into the corporate DNA, followed by a presentation by CGI Convenor Caroline Okong’o introducing the Directors’ Climate and Nature Forum and the Chapter Zero Kenya vision, including the value proposition for CEOs and boards. A panel discussion featuring an investor, a social entrepreneur, and a corporate leader explored the practical mechanics of transforming climate risk into strategic opportunity, from disclosure readiness and investor expectations to innovation and new market creation. This inaugural convening established the NSE not just as a market operator, but as a champion of governance standards that will define the next era of Kenyan capital markets. It also sent a signal to every listed company: the boards that lead on climate and nature will be the boards that attract capital, build trust, and deliver sustainable value in the decade ahead.<\/p>\n

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These five events, spanning the private sector, institutional investors, government, and the capital markets, represent the foundational chapter of Chapter Zero Kenya’s story. They demonstrated that climate and nature governance is not a single-sector issue; it is a whole-of-economy imperative that demands leadership from every boardroom, every regulator’s office, and every investment committee in Kenya and East Africa<\/em><\/p>\n

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Before its official launch on 8 April 2026, Chapter Zero Kenya convened a series of five landmark events, each designed to bring climate and nature governance into the heart of decision-making for a different pillar of Kenya’s leadership ecosystem. From boardrooms to government offices, from the trading floor to institutional investment committees, these gatherings laid the groundwork for a national movement. Here is the story of how we got here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-1526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1526"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1549,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions\/1549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kliq.cc\/chapterzero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}