At COP28 in Dubai, Nigeria calls for equity in tackling climate crisis

Nigeria on Saturday delivered its national statement at the ongoing global climate change conference calling on parties to embrace equity as they work together to defeat the climate crisis.

“Any durable solution must be based on cooperative fairness. Developing economies cannot be pressed and pressured into bearing a disproportionate share of the burden,” said Balarabe Lawal, Nigeria’s Minister of Environment who delivered the speech on behalf of the president.

This is coming after the largest economy in Africa failed to deliver a statement at the World Climate Action Summit (WCAS) alongside other heads of state.

Mr Lawal said it would be unfair to ask Nigeria and other developing countries to travel the road alone adding that “the framework of a sustainable climate change solution cannot mirror the extant imbalances of the current global economic order.”

He said those who benefit most from the current system have the onus to invest the most in repairing the environmental breaches which countries now suffer.

While seeking collaboration, Mr Lawal announced that Nigeria is willing to join the call to decarbonise the global economy, adding that the country’s vast renewable energy resources present an opportunity for sustainable growth.

“As Nigeria commits to reducing emissions by moving to cleaner energy sources, we urge developed nations to finally honour their commitment to providing the needed technology to help promote development while simultaneously mitigating climate change,” he said.

Read full text below:

I thank His Highness, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyen, President of the United Arab Emirates. In hosting this important gathering, you have made an important contribution to humankind.

We, the leaders of the world, are here because we all recognise that we must become better stewards of the world we share. The earth is begging us to heal the wounds inflicted by human activity. No longer can we afford to ignore her cries. The clock ticks.

Yet, I come here, today, to speak about the positive hopes and reasonable expectations of the Nigerian people regarding the global effort to stop climate change.

This Summit will produce the initial Global Stocktake on implementing the Paris Accord. Already, the 6th Assessment Report produced by the Intergovernmental Panel has sounded the alarm. Thus far, our efforts have been far too inadequate, too slow, and none too wise, given the severity of what we face.

With so much at stake, why do we speak so resolutely about climate change at multilateral fora such as this, yet continue to conduct ourselves without urgency?

We all want to solve the problem, but few are currently willing to do their fair share, much less all that is required.

It is now clear that developing nations are and shall continue to suffer the most from climate change having contributed the barest minimum to the problem. Neither Nigeria nor any country in Africa has been among the major initiators of climate change. However, we stand amongst its front-line victims.

Yet, almost by definition, we lack the fiscal tools and technological capacity to adequately fight this monster in our midst. What tools and assets we do possess must necessarily be devoted, first, to the exigencies of poverty, hunger and national economic development.

Developed nations face a different predicament. They fret that strong action against climate change will weaken their economies, lower their standards of living and erode their esteemed place in the global economic order. Thus, too many developed nations hesitate to do what they should, instead they carefully watch each other do the least possible. But the time for watching and waiting is over.

Nigeria and its future are being squeezed by climate change. To the north, the desert consumes arable land, displacing communities and causing food insecurity and social dislocation that often erupts into violence. In the south, ocean levels threaten coastal areas. Throughout the nation, flooding kills hundreds, decimates farmland, towns, and villages, and leaves tens of thousands homeless.

As the leader of over two hundred million diverse people spread across an equally diverse geography, I know my country must contend with both development and climate change. To treat one but not the other, will cause us to fail at both.

Thus, despite the challenges, my country will continue to do its part in fighting this collective menace.

Pursuant to our “decade of gas” policy, we now seek to shift from oil, coal and wood to using cleaner gas. We seek large-scale investment in this area as well as in renewable energy. The green wall in northern Nigeria, erected to halt the encroachment of the desert, will be expanded.

Water and flood management efforts will be enhanced. We seek energy-efficient ways to improve agricultural productivity and food security.

We stand ready to contribute to the effort to decarbonize the global economy. Our vast renewable energy resources present an opportunity for sustainable growth. We call for strong and decisive collaboration in unlocking these resources for the benefit of our people and the world at large. For example, NNPC Limited was the first National Oil Company in Africa that endorse the Global Oil & Gas Decarbonization Accelerator (OGDA). An initiative spearheaded by the COP Presidency and supported by IOCs and NOCs across the world.

Nevertheless, it is unfair to ask us to travel on this road alone. Any durable solution must be based on cooperative fairness. Developing economies cannot be pressed and pressured into bearing a disproportionate share of the burden. The framework of a sustainable climate change solution cannot mirror the extant imbalances of the current global economic order.

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The solution cannot follow the adage that the wealthy and powerful will do as they wish while the poor and developing endure what they must. Those who benefit most from the current system have the onus to invest the most in repairing the environmental breaches we now suffer.

As Nigeria commits to reducing emissions by moving to cleaner energy sources, we urge developed nations to finally honour their commitment to providing the needed technology to help promote development while simultaneously mitigating climate change.

The Paris Agreement establishes a framework for technology transfer. As developing nations make known their Technical Needs Assessments (TNAs), developed nations should not politely but quickly brush them aside. Work with us instead.

Further, the global community should honour the promise to annually fund $100 Billion climate financing promised in 2009 in Copenhagen. Many commitments have been publicly announced but few have been honoured. We also propose making the Loss & Damage Fund operable and we advocate for a measurable Global Goal on Adaptation.

In closing, the world has a choice to make. Any attempt that favours the strict preservation of the economic status quo over a genuine reduction in dangerous emissions will cast us all toward peril. The world has a chance to thwart climate change in a way that also rights old wrongs by instilling equity and fairness into the global economy.

If we take this path, we might not just save this planet. We just might make it a better home for all who dwell on it. Let us seize this moment. Let history write of us that we sensed the grave danger, and this was the moment that we turned humanity from the cliff’s edge toward safer ground and a more fertile destiny.

I thank you all

This story was produced as part of the 2023 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.