FG, UNIDO partner to reduce carbon emissions in Nigerian industries

The federal government is collaborating with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to reduce carbon emissions in industries in the country.

NAN reports that Oluyomi Banjo, national programme coordinator for environment and energy at UNIDO, sub-regional office for Nigeria and ECOWAS, spoke in Abuja on Thursday at a phase two workshop for media stakeholders.

The workshop was organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) as part of the Nigeria resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) and industrial energy efficiency (IEE) project.

Banjo noted that industries worldwide account for one-third of total energy consumption and nearly 40 percent of global carbon emissions.

He said the project aims to equip industries with a skilled expert based in Nigeria, who could also be leveraged in other African countries and beyond.

“The International Energy Agency (IEA) has emphasised that industries will need to reduce their current direct emissions globally by about 24 percent in comparison to 2007 levels,” he said.

“The need to reduce energy consumption, environmental degradation, and resource depletion by industries in emerging economies is especially evident.

“This is so because global growth in industrial production since 1990 has been dominated by emerging economies like India and China.

“Both of which accounted for over 80 percent of increased industrial production during this period.

“This project will address to a good extent the questions on how industries can improve their efficiency, increase profitability, operate at international best standards, comply with regulations and maintain improved relationship with policy makers.”

Banjo said a pilot financing scheme for RECP-IEE is being implemented through the Bank of Industry (BOI) in Nigeria.

He noted that UNIDO has successfully implemented industrial energy efficiency initiatives in over 18 countries and resource efficiency and cleaner production projects in more than 60 nations.

Banjo affirmed the organisation’s commitment to ensuring the effective execution and delivery of the project for the benefit of Nigerians.

“We hope to support not less than 70 industries across five sectors of food and beverage, wood and furniture, steel and metals, textiles and garment and petrochemicals,” he said.

“We will develop the capacity of the organised private sector and develop not less than 300 Nigerian RECP-IEE experts.

“We will continue to prioritise the media sector and their role towards inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Nigeria.”

Owoeye Olakunle, an IEE expert at ECOwatt Nigeria Ltd., said the goal of the project is to assist industries in aligning their operations with RECP-IEE methodologies.

He said the approach promotes efficient energy and resource usage while reducing environmental impact, energy consumption and production costs.

Olakunle added that the project also seeks to enhance the environmental performance of small, medium, and large-scale industrial enterprises in Nigeria.