Climate Watch: Nigeria needs funding support to accelerate energy diversification, says Tinubu

Despite directly impacting our communities, health, and livelihood, climate-related reports usually take a back seat to dominant news beats like politics and business. Climate Watch aims to ensure you never miss important stories on climate change and actions being taken toward limiting its impact.

Here is a round-up of last week’s climate stories:

• Last week at a meeting with Geoffrey Praytt, US assistant secretary of state, bureau of energy resources, President Bola Tinubu said Nigeria as an oil-producing nation needs revenue from fossil fuels for development. Tinubu said there is a need to find the right balance between the transition from fossil fuels to new energy because Africa is poor. The President said Nigeria will honour its obligations to climate change, noting that developed countries must address the challenge of poverty in Africa. He added that Nigeria is in need of funding support to help drive and accelerate its energy diversification. Read more here.
• Ibrahim Yusuf, permanent secretary at the ministry of environment, said the federal government would develop an effective oiled wildlife contingency plan (OWCP) to protect the country’s wildlife from oil contamination. Yusuf said oil spill incidents have a devastating impact on the environment. He said prevention is the most effective way to mitigate the problem. Read more here.
• Speaking in Lagos on June 21, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said developed countries should get rid of their emissions and help to reduce the cost of green energy transition for developing countries. Gates said the overuse of fertilisers could cause harm to the ecosystem, adding that sustainability issues need to be addressed in agriculture. Read more here.
• Also, at the financial pact summit held in Paris, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the challenges of poor countries must be considered as the world transitions to clean energy. Ramaphosa said shifting to green energy must be country-led and owned, adding that it should never be imposed on any country. He said South Africa still has a 90 percent dependence on fossil fuels. He added that fuel stations will remain active as the country navigates its transition journey. Find out more here.
• Mastercard has launched a project to commence the recycling of plastic credit and debit cards globally. Mastercard said it would provide shredding machines, each of which is capable of holding 10,000 cards, equivalent to 50kg of plastic and transferred to a recycling facility. The company called on banks across the world to join the programme and offer recycling to their customers. Find out more here.