Effectiveness of Climate Change Adaptation Measures in Manufacturing Industries a Case Study of Nairobi Bottlers Limited

Abstract

Manufacturing industries contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and are vulnerable to its effects. The industries are responsible for some 35% of global electricity use, 20% of CO2 emissions, and 25% of primary resource extraction. Consequently, they have a major impact on the environment and must be factored into the climate change model. While this is under consideration, the industries are also implementing some adaptation measures to cushion them against climate change. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate how the manufacturing industries have adapted to the effects of climate change using Nairobi Bottlers Limited (NBL) as a case study. An evaluation research/study was used to achieve the objectives of the study. Secondary data from Nairobi Bottlers and Meteorological Department were utilized. It was established that NBL employed the following adaptation measures; it increased the packaging of beverage in plastic bottles and reduced glass-bottles-packaging. It also changed the design of the plastic bottles from 22g to 18g. The company purchased efficient cooler distribution trucks and soft-starter motors and participating in annual tree-planting. A robust maintenance program for both Forklift and Trucks was also employed. A daily monitoring program was initiated to track LPG, Diesel and water consumption. A program to harvest rain water was started and the company built one million litre capacity storage tank. The company produced on average 18706 litres of beverage daily translating to 152million litres annually. It used 150 trucks to distribute its products. A total of 15 Forklifts were used. The values for WUR and EUR dropped within the period of study that is in the year 2009, the values were (WUR 3.8 and EUR 0.58) and they dropped to the year 2014 (WUR 2.3 and EUR - 0.41 respectively). The results of this study showed that adaptation measures can reduce on effects of climate change and improve on process efficiency of manufacturing companies. From the positive effect seen in NBL, other companies within the city should also make use of the adaptation measure undertaken by NBL.