Listed firms’ CEOs now face fines, jail time for sustainability lies

For years, Kenya’s listed companies have filled their annual reports with glossy promises of planting trees, saving water, and going carbon-neutral, claims that investors largely ignored as public relations fluff.

But starting next year, those same claims could land directors in court. New rules criminalise greenwashing when a company fakes its environmental record. This happens, for instance, when a bank claims it is “green” but cannot show how much of its loan book goes to polluters.