2060 zero emission: group lists measures to achieve feat

By AKOR SYLVESTER-Abuja

Efforts to achieve zero emission and rapid economic development in the country received more backings and support , as a Non  Governmental Organization (NGO) the Society for Planet Prosperity (SPP) outlined measures and provided gateway to achieving the feat by the year 2060.

Titled “Nigeria’s Top 10 +1 Net Zero and Economic Development Measures,, the SPP said in collaboration with GCA Capital Partners and Climate Advisers Network (Berlin) implemented a project titled “Top 10 Measures for Nigeria to Reach Net Zero” with funding from European Climate Foundation.

Addressing a Press Conference in Abuja yesterday, the Director of SPP, Chukwumerije Okereke said the 10+1 measures, when taken, would bring about economic transformation that would pave way for Niger’s to meet zero net in 2060

He said the sole aim of the project was to map out 10 key steps and decisions that if taken in the next 5 years will trigger a socio-economic transformation necessary in meeting the Nigerian government’s net zero objective.

According to him, the project will analyse the key policy instruments and activities with the Nigerian climate change mitigation programmes, that will assist the government’s plans to achieving the net-zero target by 2060.

“This is to support all the policies and activities of the government to mitigate the challenges of climate change in the country.

” To achieve the aim and objectives of the project, key stakeholders ranging from government MDAs, think tanks, civil society organisations, media practitioners and others were engaged in rating all 33 measures identified by the project team from different government policies such as the  2021 updated NDC, the Long-Term Vision for the Low Emission Development Strategy, the Medium-Term National Development .Plan, the Appropriations bill, the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan, the Nigeria Climate Policy, the Energy Transition Plan, and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning-Climate Finance Strategy.

Speaking further, he “the rating was underpinned using the following criteria; emissions in tons of carbon dioxide avoided, financial efficiency, job creation, gender responsiveness, poverty reduction, food security, health outcomes, sustainable production and consumption, to arrive at the top 10 measures.

Continuing, he said “After series of stakeholders’ engagement and both online and offline survey on the rating of the 33 identified measures, the following measures emerged as the top 10 measures:  a strong focus on generating renewable electricity both on and off-grid (minimum of 30% of on-grid electricity from renewables), elimination of diesel and gasoline generators for electricity generation by 2030.

Others were, plant 300 million trees [this decade] and promote Agro-forestry, reforestation and afforestation, including community-based forest management and recovery; end associated gas flaring by 2030; reduce wood cooking from the current 72% of the population to 20% of the population by 2030 / introducing clean cooking into 30 million households.

Also embark on the construction of 300,000 green homes in the next 12 months and 1.5 million over the next 5 years; (7) a modal shift in transport by realizing a shift of passengers to Bus Rapid Transport (BRT); backed up by enforcement of emissions standards in vehicles; end landfilling of untreated waste and transit into properly designed and managed landfills with state-of-the-art gas collection,  increase the amount of irrigated land (ha) using renewable energy for pumping from 24.35% to 100% and associated increase use of off-grid power in communities and; consistent economy-wide Energy Efficiency improvements (-50% from 2015 baseline)

He noted that example of such were  reducing electricity transmission losses and replacing 4 million incandescent bulbs with Tubular Fluorescent Lamps (TFLs) or Light-emitting Diode (LEDs), equipment standards; and landscape-scale restoration and recharging of the Lake Chad basin.

The Director maintained that a rough calculation indicates that these measures could result in emission reduction of about 174.01 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030, similar to fossil emissions of Algeria or Iraq in 2021.

According to him, these measures if implemented in the next five years, would underpin a socio-economic transformation required to enable Nigeria to meet the government’s 2060 net-zero objective announced at COP26 in Glasgow.

The Top 10 Measures for Nigeria to Reach Net Zero project, funded by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) lasted for 10 months with Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke, the Director, Society for Planet Prosperity as the principal investigator.