Administrator Samantha Power Introduces Kenyan President William Ruto During A Keynote Speech
Washington D.C.
ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, Dean [James] Steinberg. Thanks to everyone here at the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Innovation for your partnership. I want to say a special word of thanks to Senior Advisor John Podesta. Where is John Podesta? Fantastic.
Just to say to have one of the most effective and experienced leaders, really honestly in the history of U.S. public service, and to have him take up the role that Secretary [John] Kerry occupied before him, and to see the way in which future generations will benefit from John deciding really to dedicate, in all kinds of ways, the last – the most recent phase of his career 24/7 to combating climate change. The fact that climate change has become his life’s work is something we’re all better off for. So thank you so much, John Podesta.
My task today is a very simple one. And I’m really honored to be able to perform it, which is to introduce a man who actually needs very little introduction at an event on climate action, given his trailblazing leadership.
But before I talk about President [William] Ruto, I just want to situate us with two images. Two years ago, I visited Turkana County in northwest Kenya. It was just before the start of the fifth straight failed rainy season in the region, and the land was parched. The dirt, as far as the eye could see: cracked. Former crop fields lay barren, livestock were dying in mass. They lacked the water to quench their thirst, they lacked the grass to feed on. I spoke with pastoralist families who before the drought might have had 300 or 400 goat, cattle, camel, and now they told me if they were lucky, they might have two or three left in their herd. Suicides among pastoralists were up. Because what was one to do if you didn’t have a herd to tend to and to maintain as your livelihood.
Flash forward to this year, and heavy rains fell faster than this dry land could absorb them. People who had struggled for years to keep their families fed and their farms running through the drought, now saw massive floods wash away homes, markets, entire communities, killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands. We applaud the work of the Kenyan Red Cross Society to quickly respond, and USAID is honored to be their partner in supporting their efforts.
President Ruto has led efforts to respond to disasters, like the ones I’ve just described, effectively and promptly. He has led efforts to surge support to those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. But importantly, he has also refused to simply accept the idea that this crisis will resign us to a more dangerous, more unequal, less prosperous future. Instead, he is showing how nations can drive economic growth by investing in climate solutions, just as President Biden has done with the Inflation Reduction Act.
As President Ruto has said, “We must see in green growth, not just a climate imperative, but a fountain of multibillion dollar economic opportunities that Africa and the world are primed to capitalize on.” President Ruto is leading extraordinary efforts to take advantage of those opportunities. Already, as many of you know, Kenya generates more than 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources – making it one of the world’s top clean power producers. But even that standout performance is not enough for President Ruto. He is leading a push to generate all of Kenya’s power from renewable sources by 2030. And as a regional leader and a global leader to help other nations to make this same transition.
He hosted the inaugural Africa Climate Summit, which secured a remarkable $23 billion in funding for green projects across the continent. And last year at COP 28, he announced the Africa Green Industrialization initiative to help African economies develop the more sustainable products and services that the world needs – everything from solar panels to greener fertilizers to EVs.
Earlier today Senior Adviser Podesta, Ambassador Margaret Whitman, DFC head Scott Nathan, and I joined President Ruto and President Biden as they discussed the many ways that agencies across the U.S. government, from USAID to the Development Finance Corporation to the Millennium Challenge Corporation – and I’ll welcome Alice Albright here today – how we all together can further invest in Africa’s green industrialization and drive mutual prosperity in the process.
President Ruto knows of what he speaks. He has a resume unusual for a head of state on any continent, with a PhD in plant ecology no less – uniquely tailored in his background to the energy, climate, agricultural and broader economic leadership that he is exercising. He understands better than anyone, the power of nature to heal the planet by doing everything from cooling ground temperatures to sequestering carbon to preventing floods by absorbing excess rainwater. He has announced a goal to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 to increase Kenya’s forest cover from less than 10 percent to nearly 30 percent. And we, at USAID, have been honored to support Kenya’s conservation efforts, helping the country restore ecosystems, protect wildlife, and establish carbon markets that will help Kenya benefit from the incredible value that safeguarding these ecosystems creates for our planet and our people as a whole.
It is easy to feel pessimistic about the climate crisis. But when I meet with President Ruto, I come away every time with a renewed sense of the limitless possibilities ahead, and a deepened motivation to get back to work.
Please join me in welcoming a man who has laid out an urgent vision for working together across continents, and across sectors, to keep our communities safe to protect the world’s natural treasures and to spur economic growth that benefits us all.
Ladies and gentlemen, President William Ruto.
