Episode #14: Climate Leaders 101: Dr. William Ruto’s push for international investment through regional and domestic climate initiatives

RAIA(ffairs)

H.E. Dr William Samoei Ruto is Kenya’s 5th President, whose commitment toclimate change advocacy permeates the political sphere, developing initiativesthat use climate policy as a development tool. In this episode of our 2023 Climate Leaders 101, we discuss climate leader William Ruto with IE students, Ruby and Chiara. We look at his “outsider” political persona and his motivations behind enacting climate policies, closely tied to his goal of incentivizing outside nations to invest in Kenya. Before getting into the details of his policies, such as the African Carbon Markets Initiative, and their respective impact assessment, we also gain some insight into how he positioned himself and other African nations at the COP27, pointing out the unethical actions of European nations. Overall, Ruby and Chiara help us discover why and how William Ruto IS a climate leader. The Climate Leaders 101 series is brought to you as a collaboration between RAIA and IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs. Ten IE students have researched five climate leaders under RAIA supervision and with RAIA’s methodology ahead of the COP28. This is the second year we have conducted this research program fully financed by our partners from IE University.Check out the report on William Ruto written by Ruby Gachara and Chiara Cassina: https://raiagroup.org/ie-university-x-raia-research-program-2023Check out Ruby Gachara’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruby-wanjiku-gachara-43911626bCheck out Chiara Cassina’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiara-cassina/