A Summary of Nigeria’s Climate Change Action Plan

Climate change is one of the most pressing matters of today, with disastrous effects on both the environment and society. In response to worsening climate change, nations around the world have developed climate action plans. A climate action plan is a set of goals and initiatives created by national governments to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Each has its own set of benchmarks to reach by a certain date.

Background Info: What Are Climate Action Plans?

In this article, we’ll review Nigeria’s climate change action plan by providing a summary and examining its specific goals.

Overview: Nigeria’s Climate Change Action Plan

Nigeria’s National Action Plan to reduce short-lived climate pollutants was created by the Nigerian government in 2019. The plan’s overarching goals are to reduce air pollution in Nigeria in addition to the country’s contribution to climate change.

Like other plans, Nigeria’s climate change action plan breaks down its strategies in several categories. Each one is meant to address a specific part of Nigerian infrastructure.

These plans are referred to as “Abatement Measures,” and include goals for the following categories:

1. Transportation
2. Residential
3. Gas and Oil
4. Industrial
5. Waste Management
6. Agriculture
7. Energy

Overall, it is estimated that if the plan is fully implemented, it could reduce methane emissions by 61% by 2030, compared to business-as-usual. Successful implementation of Nigeria’s climate change action plan would also reduce black carbon emissions (a type of air pollution that also contributes to climate change) by 83% by 2030.

Read the full plan: National Action Plan to reduce short-lived climate pollutants

Goals of the Nigerian Climate Change Action Plan By Sector

Transportation

Nigeria has various climate goals for their transportation sector, most of which involve upgrading their public transport utility and moving beyond fuel sources that use petrol and fossil fuels. Specifics include things like adoption of CNG (compressed natural gas) buses and renovation of their urban buses in Lagos.

Other goals include reducing emission levels for vehicles and restricting construction of vehicles that don’t pass emission standards.

Residential 

Nigeria’s climate change action plan for the residential sector relies on utilizing alternative fuels for cooking and home living.

The goal of the plan is to replace traditional biomass fuels for cooking with modern alternatives such as electricity, kerosene, LPG, and solar. Also, the plan recommends moving away from kerosene lamps and other lighting sources to solar, along with alternatives to biomass fuels.

Gas and Oil

Gas and oil are obvious contributors to carbon emissions, and the Nigerian climate change action plan seeks to address this. 

The abatement measures in the “gas and oil” section look at three primary areas. 

1. Target and eliminate the use of gas flaring. Gas flaring is the burning of natural gas during oil extraction. 
2. Control “fugitive” emissions. The idea is to control leakages during oil production to prevent further pollution, with an emphasis on fuel efficiency. 
3. Reduce methane leakage and natural gas emissions during the transportation and containment of these fuels.

Industrial

There is currently one abatement resolution in this section of the plan. The resolution, referred to as “Improved Energy Efficiency,” aims to increase energy efficiency in industrial settings. 

This would include, for example, using what’s only needed during a manufacturing process. The main aim of this concept is to achieve the same manufacturing output while reducing energy consumption.

Waste Management

Under this section, three abatement stipulations are put in place to reduce industrial waste and pollution. 

1. Reduce methane emissions, and halt open burning of waste/garbage at landfills.
2. Enact collection of sludge and septic waste for treatment. 
3. Create treatment plans for local and municipal sewage systems. This not only reduces emissions and carbon load, but increases public safety and rapidly decreases the chance for infections, all of which are exacerbated by climate change impacts.

Agriculture

In the agriculture section, Nigeria’s climate change action plan includes four abatement measures:

1. To adopt aeration of rice paddy fields in order to reduce flooded fields for continued food production, which prepares for potential climate impact dealing with flooded zones and land.. 
2. To reduce and eliminate open burning of crop waste and residue, reducing pollution and contamination. 
3. To reduce methane emissions in farming, specifically from enteric fermentation, a digestive process in ruminant livestock that emits high levels of methane.
4. To promote anaerobic digestion of livestock manure, a manure-management method that reduces methane gas emissions. Through this goal, the plan aims to reduce methane by 50% by 2030.

Energy

Finally, the Nigerian climate action plan addresses energy, an essential aspect of reducing carbon emissions. 

There are two energy abatement plans in this section:

1. Expand electricity coverage so that civilians have access to reliable power. Specifically, the goal is to expand National Electricity Coverage, and by doing so, create less reliance on inefficient fuel sources which contribute to carbon emissions/load.
2. Increase the share and use of electricity generated by renewables. The goal is to achieve 30 percent renewable-based electricity generation by 2030.

Nigeria’s climate action plan was developed in 2019 and aims to reduce pollution and climate change. Learn more about the plan’s goals here.