An Unrosy Affair: How Europe’s Love for Flowers Is Exacerbating Climate Change in Kenya

Across Europe, people give flowers to mark important events like marriages, birthdays, and funerals. Many of those flowers come from Kenya. Flowers are transported  in gas-guzzling jets, wrapped in single-use plastic, and arranged in toxic foam. Glyphosate, a known carcinogen, pollutes waterways, compounding existing water shortages.

Thousands of farm workers, driven by poverty, drought, and food insecurity, endure terrible conditions without adequate labour rights or union access. Women report sexual harassment and exploitation at work. 

The Netherlands, the global flower industry epicentre, sells 50% of all Kenyan flowers in the European market. While European companies profit, consumers remain oblivious to the sources of their cut flowers, and workers and their communities suffer.

In this investigation, we visited Lake Naivasha, Kenya’s flower-growing region, to examine the environmental and human consequences of Europe’s thirst for cut flowers, listening to the voices of its victims and spotlighting the companies profiting from their labour.