London Distillers Kenya (LDK) has been celebrated for having won the Top CSR 100 Awards for Environmental Conservation held at Fairmont Norfolk Hotel. LDK was recognized for several initiatives which included the ‘Establishment of own forest of mixed tree species’ (Indigenous and Exotic Trees) with a total of 42,833 Trees which have significantly improved the tree cover in the Athi River region under their “Make Athi River Town Green” initiative. The totality of the trees planted includes Bamboo trees, Eucalyptus trees and many other species which have been meticulously planted in different locations around the factory to promote each tree’s specific characteristic. This is a determinant of many different environmental factors in the Athi River area.
Research from previous years shows that Kenya lost 7.23kha of natural forest, equivalent to 3.23Mt of CO₂ emissions. This year statistics from the National Forest Resources Assessment (NFRA) Report 2021 state that Kenya’s tree cover stands at 12.13 percent while forest cover is at 8.83 percent up from 5.9 percent of 2018. Due to this, President William Ruto has vowed to undertake a journey to combat climate change by planting 5 billion trees in the next five years and 10 billion in ten years. This initiative will aid in combating the ravaging drought that has put lots of lives at risk. This will set a common position for Kenya during the upcoming climate change conference (COP 27) in November.
The Top 100 In Social Impact, CSR Awards (CSR 100) are organized by Digital Events Ltd in conjunction with an independent panel of judges drawn from non-profit organizations, academia, sustainability advocacy, professional bodies, industry networks, and the media. Therefore, the CSR 100 Awards provide a platform through which brands that have excelled in social impact initiatives and have demonstrated outstanding leadership and corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives, are recognized and celebrated.
“The corporate philanthropy of giving to development and humanitarian assistance has increasingly become an important subject of the world’s development debate in recent years. As London Distillers we are very honored to receive this award and being mentioned amongst all the other amazing companies whose mission is also to promote corporate social responsibility, it is humbling, said Mr Avin Galot, Managing Director of London Distillers Kenya, “One of our many CSR initiatives like “Make Athi River Town Green” has tremendously improved the ecosystem and has supported livelihoods and economic development in the area, this is something we intend to push forward even in the upcoming years.”
London Distillers Kenya has also invested heavily in solar PV, which generates 924Kw of electrical power. The solar plant has praised over reliance of grid electricity most of which is generated using diesel generators by KenGen and other independent power producers. The use of solar has seen the factory offset thousands of kWh of electrical energy consumption and tons of CO2 emission from electricity.
Furthermore, LDK’s environmental sustainability initiatives are continuing to make an impact statement through their state of the art biogas distillery. The spent wash from the distillery is used to fire the factory’s boilers which helps reduce reliance on furnace oil. The overall impact of using complementary energy sources as opposed to one source for each energy type, for example thermal (HFO only) and electrical (Grid electricity only) has made the company offset energy consumption of several kWh and CO2 emissions.
“London Distillers Kenya is extremely honored to win this award, especially for a category we are very passionate about and has been at the core foundation of our business. We aim to provide a clean, secure and sustainable environment for years to come.” Said Mr. Chris Kandie, Marketing Manager for London Distillers Kenya
The current baseline emission for the company is gradually being reduced as a deliberate business strategy. Based on the environmental conservation initiatives, LDK has a potential for offsetting tons of CO2 equivalent per year through its established rooting of planting trees. Based on the projections and internal targets set by the company, in the next five years the organization will be able to surpass its emission reduction plans through the established carbon sink initiatives and its aggressive tree planting programs.