The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), yesterday said the global carbon trade has grown into a market worth over $175 billion annually, in a short space of time.
The UNDP Representative, Mohammed Yahaya, disclosed this at the inauguration of the Development of Nigeria Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), in Abuja.
Yahaya quoting a World Atlas data said, as of 2020, carbon dioxide emissions from Nigeria was about 126.9 million tonnes, which came mainly from burning of fossil fuel and heavy industries such as cement manufacturing.
“For a country like Nigeria, carbon trading should be looked at for both medium and long term objectives which at the end of the day, will provide a lot of environmental benefits to the country.
“In some countries, carbon emission trading has been known to be a source of generating money for nature-based solutions to climate change. This belief can be said to be the same for Nigeria in the nearest future,” he said.
Carbon market
Yahaya said the history of the carbon market could be marked as a great political success story, and an integral part of international climate change policies across the world.
He explained that carbon credits were provided for activities that claimed to benefit the climate, either by removing carbon dioxide from the air or preventing it from being emitted, and carbon trading a procurement of such credits.
This, he said, has given birth to ETS, which has given governments the flexibility to deal with vested interests.
“It has also allowed governments and decision makers to focus on the acceptability of the initial allocation in both domestic and international contexts.
“Emissions trading systems expose emitters to the external costs of emissions in the most flexible and least costly way,” he said.
Yahaya however said the design of the system needed to consider local contexts and regulations, as well as inter-linkages with other policy priorities in each jurisdiction.
He noted that emissions trading is likely to be part of a broader policy mix to control emissions from the whole economy, and potentially one of the most powerful tools to build an effective global response to climate change.
“It is also a tool that will meet the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitments that the Nigerian government has made to the UN Framework Convention on Climate change.”
Carbon credits were provided for activities that claimed to benefit the climate, either by removing carbon dioxide from the air or preventing it from being emitted and carbon trading a procurement of such credits.
Coordination of activities
The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, said the launch of the ETS is an indication of the commencement of activities such as sensitising the public, and ensuring coordination with other relevant arms of government.
Abdullahi said this will also ensure coordination between the development partners under the leadership of the ministry with active collaboration of the Ministry of Trade and Industries.
He thanked the UNDP and other relevant stakeholders for the support provided to ensure that policies and programmes were implemented in the country.
Also, the Representative of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Nigeria, Adesuwa Obasuyi, said the UK Government remains committed to supporting Nigeria’s carbon market development.
Adesuwa, also the Climate Change Policy Manager, British High Commission, encouraged other relevant stakeholders to be involved in assisting Nigeria in addressing environmental crises.
“I encourage other donors, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders to be closely involved and engaged in the process, so that together we can work to make Nigeria net-zero.” (NAN)
