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Project Partner: Aqua Clara

Bringing safe water to families and schools across Kenya.

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A dark-skinned hand holds a small white mug with a blue rim while water from a faucet fills the pale beverage, sitting on a red surface.
Jane Boit pours her daughter a mug of safe water from her Aqua Clara filter at her home.

Project overview

Aqua Clara brings safe water to families and schools across Kenya, replacing the need to boil water over smoky, firewood-fueled stoves. Since 2014 the carbon project has delivered water filters to more than 9,600 households, reducing 215,000 tonnes of CO2. The project creates employment opportunities and educates communities on safe water and sanitation hygiene practices to improve public health.

Aqua Clara partnered with Climate Impact Partners to use our expertise in the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of the carbon program and to lead the marketing and sales of their carbon credits to generate a sustainable source of revenue for their project.

Several young students in red uniforms wash glasses at a shared outdoor sink, filling cups from a running faucet under a sunlit covered walkway.

What support did Climate Impact Partners provide?

In 2014, Climate Impact Partners committed to buying Aqua Clara’s first Gold Standard Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs). Since then, we have led the development of the carbon asset, managed its transition to a Gold Standard for Global Goals project, and run Aqua Clara's annual verification cycles. Our team is involved in all aspects of the project, from on-the-ground training for field staff, to measuring carbon reductions and progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. 

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How does the carbon finance project work?

40% of people lack access to clean drinking water in Kenya. Aqua Clara’s bio-sand water purifiers are locally manufactured and easy to use. They avoid the need for families to boil water, saving CO2 and reducing deforestation. By measuring the CO2 reductions, using a Gold Standard methodology that Climate Impact Partners helped develop, Aqua Clara is able to generate carbon credits. Aqua Clara uses the revenue from selling these credits to subsidize the cost of water filters to rural communities, expanding their market.

In addition, they were able to develop and introduce a new, more flexible, faster water filter. The additional revenue stream has made the program sustainable, and our direct involvement in the project from start to finish reassures both Aqua Clara and corporates who purchase the project's carbon credits.

Group of people gather around a manual water pump in a rural setting with thatched huts; a smiling woman operates the lever while others hold containers for water.

The benefit of carbon finance

Since Climate Impact Partners first helped Aqua Clara to generate and sell carbon credits from its projects, the carbon revenue has enabled them to reach more customers in rural areas and create employment opportunities for more than 60 people. On the back of this success, Climate Impact Partners provided guidance to Aqua Clara to register a new carbon project in 2021 which will expand their carbon program over the next five years to 77,000 households across 32 counties in Kenya.

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Q&A with our Technical Experts

Hear how our team of industry-leading project experts respond to changes in corporate demand and latest carbon market trends.

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