Climate change: EU supports Nigeria on 45% emission reduction

The European Union (EU) has provided support for the country to enable it meet the 45% conditional target of climate change green gas emission reduction. Nigeria is a signatory to the Paris agreement, a global framework aimed at preventing dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit […]

The European Union (EU) has provided support for the country to enable it meet the 45% conditional target of climate change green gas emission reduction.

Nigeria is a signatory to the Paris agreement, a global framework aimed at preventing dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

It is also aimed at strengthening countries’ ability to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Dr Yerima Tarfa ,Director Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment made the disclosure on Tuesday during the inception phase workshop on Nigeria Climate Change Response Programme (NCCRP).

He said: “The support by the EU towards meeting the 45% conditional target of the Nationally Determined Contribution is timely and strategic, especially the focus of the support programme on the development of a Measuring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) system at institutional and sector levels as well as on communication; and Green House Gases (GHG) data on waste management at the federal level and in two pilot States (Kano and Ogun)”

He said that in the development of the Paris agreement all countries were asked to indicate what they would be able to do in a document called the National Determined Contribution, and that Nigeria committed to reduce its emission from all economic activities unconditionally by 20% and unconditionally by 45%.

He said the support would be in form of building capacity , and putting in place institutional structures and legal frameworks to meet the 45% emission target.

He said climate change could cause bad damages and losses as COVID-19, but spread over a much longer period, in an irreversible manner.

He added that it has become even more imperative to recover from the global pandemic without compromising efforts to combat climate change and its major causes.

Kathryn Mulvad Thomsen, Head of Section, Economic Development , Energy sector of the EU said the organization decided to support Nigeria in meeting the target because it has shown commitment towards tackling climate change and also set ambitious commitment of green gas emission reduction .

Team Lead of the Nigeria Climate Change Response Programme , Dr Todd Ngara said the objectives of the programme include implementing mitigating measures, increasing public awareness , involving private sector participation, and enhancing natural capacity to adapt to change among others.