The Federal Government said on Thursday, August 30, 2018 that it would explore all possible avenues to ensure that Nigeria benefitted immensely from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Minister of State for Environment, Mallam Ibrahim Jibril, stated this at a Gala Dinner and Certificates Award Night organised by the African Union’s (AU) Scientific, Technical and Research Commission in Abuja, to mark the end of a three-day Capacity Building Consultative Workshop for AU member states.

The consultative workshop was an avenue to train representatives of African states on how to access the GCF.

According to the minister, accessing the fund would go a long way towards addressing climate change-related issues in the country.

He said that towards that end, the environment ministry was working closely with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to generate renewable energy as a way of mitigating the effect of climate change.

He added that it was in a bid to address climate-related issues that Nigeria became the first African country to raise the Sovereign Green Bond in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement of 2015 to which it is a signatory.

The minister stated that the government would encourage the 36 states of the federation to put beautiful proposals that would stand the test of time, to benefit from the GCF.

He then urged participants and other stakeholders that participated in the consultative workshop to return to their various countries and apply the knowledge and lessons learned during the interactive sessions to help grow the various agencies, parastatals, organisations and academic institutions in their countries to grow.

Highpoint of the evening was the award of certificates of participation to all the key stakeholders, participants and resource persons that were at the workshop.

No fewer than 20 African nations were represented at the workshop.

Scientists agree that global carbon dioxide emissions must reach a turning point in 2020 if we are to achieve carbon neutrality (emissions low enough to be safely absorbed by forests, soils, and other natural systems) by mid-century. But while nearly 50 countries have or may have reached their emissions peaks, progress must be accelerated. In this piece posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 on Project Syndicate, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa and Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris and Chair of C40 Cities, describe the forthcoming Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco as a golden opportunity to make progress in the effort to combat global warming

Next month, the Global Climate Action Summit – one of the largest international gatherings on climate change the world has seen – will be held in San Francisco. The event, whose theme is “Take Ambition to the Next Level,” aims to serve as a launchpad for accelerated action that will enable the world to meet the goals set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. It is a golden opportunity to make progress in the effort to combat global warming, but it can be seized only with the involvement of all stakeholders.

With the Paris climate agreement, the international community agreed to limit the rise in average global temperature to 2° Celsius – and ideally 1.5°C – above pre-industrial levels. To that end, national governments were tasked with developing their own climate-action plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

But national governments cannot do it alone. Everyone – including those at all levels of government, as well as business leaders, investors, and civil society – must contribute. This calls for a new form of inclusive multilateralism – one that can also be applied to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which complement the Paris agreement’s commitments.

It is a tall order, but there is plenty of reason for optimism. There is unprecedented global momentum to build a low-carbon, climate-secure future, characterized by a dynamic green economy, a thriving society, and a healthy environment.

Globally, renewable power accounted for 70% of net additions to power-generating capacity in 2017, according to the Renewables 2018 Global Status Report. Moreover, as part of the Under2 Coalition, over 200 states, regions, and local authorities have committed to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Urban centers are also proving their capacity for climate innovation and leadership. New York City has mandated the retrofitting of 14,500 of the city’s most polluting buildings. Shenzhen has become the first city in the world with a fully electric bus fleet. Curitiba, Brazil, has introduced a new model of urban food production. And Oslo has created a climate budget to guide financial decision-making.

At the business level, more than 700 companies with a total market capitalization of over $16 trillion have made far-reaching climate commitments, according to the We Mean Business Coalition. And 289 investors, holding nearly $30 trillion in assets, have signed on to Climate 100+, a five-year initiative to engage with the world’s largest corporate greenhouse-gas emitters to improve governance on climate change, curb emissions, and strengthen climate-related financial disclosures. As a result, global green bond issuance could reach $300 billion this year.

Yet we are far from being in the clear. Scientists agree that global carbon dioxide emissions must reach a turning point in 2020 if we are to achieve carbon neutrality (with emissions low enough to be safely absorbed by forests, soils, and other natural systems) by mid-century. So far, nearly 50 countries have or may have reached their emissions peaks, and more may soon join their ranks. This is progress, but it is not enough.

In fact, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are still accumulating at a rate that will soon take us well above the 1.5°C threshold, beyond which some of the worst effects of climate change cannot be staved off. Extreme weather already is becoming more common, as exemplified by record-high temperatures worldwide this year. On current trends, average global temperatures could well rise by 3°C, imperiling vital natural systems like coral reefs, rainforests, and the polar regions.

All relevant stakeholders need to strengthen their climate commitments. To kick-start that process, the Global Climate Action Summit and its partners have issued a wide array of new challenges, including zero-waste goals in cities, a target of 500 companies adopting science-based targets, and initiatives to accelerate uptake of zero-emission vehicles.

Such efforts would not just protect our environment; they would also boost our economies. A recent report by the New Climate Economy suggests that, in transportation alone, a low-carbon transition would create 23 million jobs worldwide annually.

Perhaps more important, a show of climate-action ambition from leaders across sectors would likely inspire national governments to increase their own NDCs ahead of this December’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland, where governments will finalize the implementation guidelines of the Paris agreement.

Acting alone can be difficult. Acting in concert can inspire and enable all participants to do more. And if we are to leave a healthy planet to future generations, more is what we need.

350 Nigeria, in partnership with Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) and the Climate and Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet) are putting together the “Abuja Climate Summit” that will be held on the Friday, September 7, 2018 in Abuja. The following day on Saturday, September 8, Abuja will also host the “Walk for Climate”.

Abuja Climate Summit is part of the Global Day of Action taking place in major cities around the world bringing people to come together to Rise for Climate Action.

“With climate impacts escalating, we don’t have the luxury to wait to see what bureaucratic negotiations have to offer. We need our local leaders to step up and do everything they can right now,” says David Michael Terungwa, executive director of GIFSEP.

According to him, the summit aims at bringing together key stakeholders from the civil Society, development partners, religious and traditional leaders, private sector, academia, women, youth, indigenous groups and policy makers to share ideas and perspectives on the progress made in Nigeria’s implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient, green economic trajectory.

His words: “The summit will also seek to explore and deliberate on converging areas of advocacy and mobilisation from bottom up, inclusive, pro-indigenous people-centered climate responses in FCT Abuja and at the national level among state and non-state actors while working towards and identifying and defining the action agenda for different stakeholders.”

Terungwa noted that the conference will be graced by some 350 delegates and feature:

• Presentation on Nigeria’s NDCs: The journey so far
• Nigeria’s Road Map on Transition to Renewable Energy
• Panel Discussion on Religion, the Environment and Climate change
• Panel Discussion on the role of Development partners and examples of key interventions
• Panel Discussion with Leaders of Political Parties on the inclusion of Environment, Climate Change and Renewable Energy in their manifesto
• Declaration of Abuja Climate Action
• Press interviews
• Communiqué