The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to climate change mitigation.
The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, made this assertion during the 2nd-anniversary lecture of NatureNews Africa, a publication devoted to environmental issues, and the presentation of the Hero of Environment Actions for Development awards in Abuja.
He said, “The current global climate finance architecture is able to operate efficiently. Nigeria took a bold step to finance climate compatibility development to collaborations within the Environment Ministry and other systems of government and the capital market to issue sub-Saharan Africa’s first-ever green bonds in 2017 and in 2018.
“As at 2019-2020, private sector investment accounts for 23 per cent of total climate finance committed. Bridging the Nigeria climate finance gap can only be achieved by the involvement of the private sector.”
Citing the coming COP28’s President-designate, Dr Sultan Al Jaber’s recent statement on climate change, the minister said that Al Jaber acknowledged recently that the world was way off the Paris Agreement roadmap to a 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature goal.
He added that the world would require at least a recapitalisation of an additional $14 million by 2025 for the global south to return on track.
“That is a huge challenge financially. We have realised that resilience to the negative impact of climate change is beyond preparing or overcoming, coupled with erratic weather presentations and increase damaged infrastructure.
“We need as a matter of urgency to fortify our socioeconomic systems.
“A climate finance landscape study done for Nigeria in 2019-2020 shows that an average of $1.9 billion per year of public and private capital was invested in climate education activities in Nigeria,” he said.
Abdullahi said this was only 11 per cent of the estimated $17.7 billion.
He urged the management of NatureNews Africa to continue in its efforts towards climate change mitigation through development and solutions journalism.
“It is important that a forum such as this will facilitate discussions on policymakers and public financiers, and identify gaps and opportunities for scaling climate finance gaps in Nigeria.
“The policy framework for climate mitigation and resilience building is currently a work in progress.
“However, to deliver sustainable economic growth, there is a big interest in climate finance struggle, financial and domestic that will enable equitable access, national ownership, effective management and monitoring,” Abdullahi said.