Lessons from Belgium’s first net-zero embassy

The mission, comprising the Chancery and the residence, is also the first of such Belgian​ embassies abroad, a key step and commitment towards carbon emissions reduction, energy and water efficiency and sustainable living.

The facility is the initiative of Amb Peter Maddens, whose father was also the Belgian envoy to Kenya in the Jomo Kenyatta era.

The net-zero embassy was​ inaugurated by Belgium Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot during his visit on August 21.

Prior to that launch, Amb Maddens and his wife, Kris, took the Star and professionals​ drawn from various sectors for a tour of the facility, explaining every detail of the green investment.

The project focuses on three main issues: water recycling, green energy and green farming.

Although it has Kenya Power as a backup, the Belgian Embassy is off-grid for electricity and water-efficient.

It produces much of the greens and herbs consumed by the households in the mission in the vertical hydroponic gardens, with the produce irrigated using recycled water.

“We irrigate this thing for three minutes two times a day. That's it. That's why a little tank like this is more than enough. We feed this water with nutrients that we create ourselves in the bio digesters,” he said.

Three things come out of it. One is gas, which they burn off to cook, and also to heat the showers in the staff quarters.

There's liquid residue that is collected in a tank. They scoop it out and add it to the water, and then test the water to see if it's good for nutrients.

And then there's solid residue, which they only need to take out of the biodigesters once every two to three years, and that goes on the compost heat.

“So nothing goes to waste,” the envoy said. 

GREEN ENERGY

The project started in October 2023, and by February last year, the embassy had already switched on the solar electrical system and has been off the grid since then.

Other than when hosting events, the residence uses solar for lighting and biogas for cooking, reducing expenses on each by about 80 per cent.

The residence and the chancery are connected in such a way that if there is not enough power in either, the batteries down in the other have enough power to keep powering.

It is only when they are all down that they resort to Kenya Power, which Maddens says isn't much of a problem as more than 90 per cent of Kenya's power is generated sustainably: hydro, wind and geothermal.

The embassy still has two backup generators that it ​had prior to the project, but it hopes to get rid of one and feed the other with biodiesel. “In everything we do, we try to maximise green sustainability,” the envoy said.

It was a surprise for Amb Maddens that not much had changed at the residence when he returned to Nairobi in 2021, particularly water collection.

“It rained on my first night back in the house as ambassador, and I heard the rain pouring off the roof onto the pavement," he recalled.

“It immediately triggered memories of the same sound when we lived here. I couldn’t believe in all the years no one had ever done anything about harvesting the water.”

Now all the water is collected, with 100,000 litres of storage. This is complemented by a borehole as well as the county piped water.  

The embassy also has a filtration lagoon (man-made pond or system of ponds, designed to purify water through a combination of biological, chemical and physical processes).

There’s also a sequential batch reactor (SBR), which treats all the wastewater from the household. The technique operates without a sewer connection.

“We have a borehole, which we mix with city water, if there’s not enough coming out of the borehole,” the envoy said.

“We use all the wastewater, clean it with an SBR with a nature-based lagoon, and then finally with the UV filter. That’s the water we use to irrigate both the lawns and the vertical garden.” 

INSPIRED BY SAFARI CAMP

In one of his courtesy visits on his arrival, Maddens met Loïc Amado and Valery Super, a Belgian couple who were at the time establishing Emboo River Camp. It was to be the first carbon-neutral safari camp in the Masai Mara.

Months later, the embassy planned the first team building of the year and spent the night at Emboo River Camp.

Loïc and Valery showed the guests around the carbon-neutral installations.

These included the solar panels batteries, water harvesting and recycling, hydroponic vertical vegetable gardens, biodigesters and the battery-powered safari vehicles.

Maddens got interested in the initiative and purposed to replicate it at the embassy. 

He realised as Loïc led the tour that their ‘businesses’ were totally different but the infrastructure was the same. The camp has 12 tents, four cars, three acres of land and 40 staff.

The embassy, on the other hand, has two buildings on about five acres, 25 staff and a couple of cars.

“So I told him, ‘I want to copy what you did. Do you think we can do that?’" Maddens said.

Loïc went came and took a look at the embassy. He saw the 700 square metres of roof over the two buildings.

He saw the incline on the land, which means you only have to bump your water halfway.

And he saw all the land they had to build for the gardens and all the waste they generated for biodigesters.

“He became my main contractor. He identified four Kenyan companies that are the subcontractors that did this whole thing,” Maddens said.

PENDING TARGET

The project took about a year to conceptualise in 2022, and another six months to put it together.

A lot more needs to be done for the embassy to be carbon-neutral, though.

“I say we are net zero, not zero carbon because there is a bit of a difference,” he said.

“Look around, concrete. I haven’t yet compensated for all that.

“My staff’s cars run on fossil fuel. I haven’t yet compensated for that. The idea is to go from net zero to net negative so that I can start compensating for that, and then trending towards carbon energy. That'll take a while, but that’s where we’re headed.”

Net zero aims to balance all greenhouse gases by prioritising deep, mandatory reductions across the entire value chain, and using removals only for unavoidable residual emissions, which the embassy is doing.

Carbon neutrality, meanwhile, focuses mainly on CO₂ emissions. It relies more heavily on offsets to balance remaining CO₂ emissions, without the same level of stringent reduction requirements or comprehensive scope. 

Maddens urged Kenyans to take advantage of the favourable climate in the country to reciprocate the initiative.

“With the capacity in the country, there should be no building or a renovation done without a green element,” he says.

“It should be a standard, and you should not authorise a building to be built without a demonstrably green living.”

Must-have elements are water recycling, biogas and solar panels, he said.

Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei hailed the embassy’s transformation during the inauguration.

He said net-zero buildings stand as a strong symbol of environmental innovation and a vital tool for advancing climate resilience.

“By reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency and integrating sustainable design, they contribute meaningfully to global climate goals,” Sing’oei said.

While some developers are inputting various aspects of green living in modern housing projects, the country is yet to pass the Climate Change (Green and Resilient Buildings) Regulations, 2023.

The proposed regulations under the Climate Change Act 2016 and the National Climate Change Action Plan aim to guide the design and construction of sustainable, resource-efficient and resilient buildings.

They also aim to reduce carbon footprints and promote circular economy principles in the built environment sector.

Key features include establishing a green resilient building unit to oversee implementation, certification and professional accreditation.

The regulations also provide guidelines for building practices that minimise negative environmental impacts and enhance resource efficiency. 

They aim to ensure buildings are resilient to climate change impacts, such as floods and droughts, and reduce carbon footprint.

They also seek to encourage the adoption of circular economy principles, innovation and sustainable practices in the construction sector.

The Belgian Embassy stands as a beacon of what can be achieved if Kenya moves forward with its green regulations. Where there is a will, there is a way.