Nigeria proposes 5 climate-related goals for COP 28

By Innocent Obasi

Nigeria has proposed five goals that should be achieved by COP 28, which is anticipated to take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from November to December 2023.

Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s vice president, made the proposal while delivering a speech at a meeting on the African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York over the weekend.

“By COP 28, we need to be able to show real results. I would propose that by COP 28, we should be able to deliver the following five things,” he said.

Osinbajo outlined the five expected developments to include:

*At least five countries should have developed country activation plans, with Nigeria being one of them.

*An  advanced market commitment of over $1 billion

*Development of  new projects based on new methodologies and realities of Africa like diesel replacement credits

*Scaling of  over a dozen project developers or carbon credit suppliers as they would be known then.

*Retirement of more than 40 million carbon credits on the continent.

Speaking further, the vice president expressed optimism about the ACMI, saying; “Hopefully, we will make more progress in the effort to significantly scale up over the next 24 months. Given the positive benefits of the ACMI, this feels like it should be an easy conversation.”

Osinbajo also assured that the federal government is making efforts to address the country’s issues related to climate change, noting that the government passed  the Climate Change Act, earlier this year. He added that the establishment of the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) initiative and Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) have also helped in developing the country’s net-zero energy transition plan.

 In his response, John Kerry, the US senator and  presidential envoy on climate change, said that it is possible to establish a high-integrity carbon market in order to address both climate change and the aspirations of African development.  Kerry noted that the developed world needed to be able to increase its assistance with the climate crisis and expressed delight that all interested parties were working together to provide financing.