Sun King, the company you probably know for yellow solar lanterns and pay-as-you-go home power, has officially launched its first smartphone in Kenya, shaking up the mobile market.

Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui said the government refused authorisation because Koko’s demand for carbon credits would have exhausted Kenya’s entire global quota, locking out all other companies and industries.

Industry sources say Koko spent months seeking government approval to sell carbon credits internationally, only for the application to be rejected at a late stage. Without carbon income, the economics collapsed almost overnight.

The shutdown affects more than 700 direct employees and thousands of agents who operated KOKO’s distribution network, which included over 3,000 automated fuel dispensing machines across urban and peri-urban areas. More critically for sustainability and public health, the closure risks reversing clean cooking gains for 1.5 million households.