Viability Lab was able to demonstrate innovative activities and approaches to address climate change and the lack of access to clean, reliable energy in the developing world by working with local microfinance institutions, banks, and distribution partners to access the African market.

 

Partnering with the Koinonia Foundation’s Beacon Program to design methodologies to address childhood health and education outcomes, all caused by the use of kerosene lamps in their homes that illuminate their studies at night. The fumes caused health issues, which then caused missed school days, and the problems spiraled downward from there. Scores of organizations—governmental and nonprofit, large and small—have expended effort and resources to better Kenyan living conditions with mixed results. Meanwhile, Viability Lab pioneered an unprecedented, innovative approach that continues to impact the continent today.

 

When the Koinonia Foundation approached Viability Lab for guidance in helping struggling Kenyans modernize their education and living standards, we avoided conventional "find donors, send supplies" models to devise a truly revolutionary system that positively impacted both the environment and on-the-ground living conditions without pestering donors for a dime.

 

Viability Lab was recognized by the United Nations Development Programme (New York, NY) for its creative and impactful use of Carbon Credit funding to improve rural Kenyan student health and education outcomes, leveraging a partnership with one of its international greenhouse clients from The Netherlands installing renewable energy in one of its African facilities. Viability Lab first directed the quantification and calculation of carbon credits generated by the sustainable practices incorporated into the build project, then managed and oversaw the credits' sale through the European Climate Exchange.

 

It's here where the singular genius of Viability Lab's approach was fully realized. Note that significant environmental impact had already been achieved. However, through an agreement with the greenhouse corporation, the proceeds from the carbon credit sale were not pocketed by the company, but used to purchase 10,000 solar lanterns for the children and families of Kenya, shedding essential light on evening school studies and household activities, while ridding their homes of noxious kerosene fumes. Students had been studying by kerosene light and the resulting illness resulting in school dropouts. Families with the solar lanterns saw an immediate uptick in health and educational outcomes. Further proceeds went to installing biodigesters to convert organic matter into clean-burning cooking fuel.

 

The project resulted in the United Nations recognizing Viability Lab's innovation and expertise by inviting a keynote presentation of our firm’s “Leveraging Carbon Finance to Fight Poverty” at the 2010 Africa Carbon Forum in Kenya. That exposure and project success then led the firm to open Viability Africa offices in Nairobi and London, which were spun off to key Viability Lab employees.

 

In this vivid example of Viability Lab's outside-the-box thinking, a large, multinational corporation building an earth-friendly facility with all of its environmental benefits also funded a project that improved the health and educational outcomes of thousands of rural Kenyan families. Put simply, Viability Lab is the world’s preeminent agency in conceptualizing, developing, and executing these cross-sector impacts that literally create “surplus good” without any additional funding.