Tuesday's event at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai focussed on broad spectrum of solutions from deploying large scale renewable energy to decarbonising the energy of today.
Tuesday marked the sixth day of the ongoing 28th meeting of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The day's event was themed, 'Energy/Industry/Fair Transition/Indigenous Peoples Day by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)'.
The event focussed on broad spectrum of solutions from deploying large scale renewable energy to decarbonising the energy of today. It also highlighted solutions for the heavy-emitting industry including steel, cement, and aluminium.
Similarly, because the indigenous people play a pivotal role in the protection and preservation of over 80 percent of the planet's biodiversity, the day also dissected the significance of their intergenerational knowledge, practices, and leadership in climate action.
According to the UNFCCC, the world needs to decarbonise rapidly, while continuing to progress economically. To do this, the climate summit organisers said it is critical that this development happens sustainably and inclusively to support lives and livelihoods while protecting the planet.
World leaders and experts at the summit participated in several side events across different pavilions and high-level meetings with relevant experts and entrepreneurs at COP, amidst efforts to mobilise finance and secure partnerships with developmental firms for their respective countries.
Based on this, on Tuesday, one of our correspondents at the ongoing summit took to the streets of the gleaming Dubai Expo City--the venue of this year's conference, to interview Nigerians regarding renewable energy and lessons the Nigerian government and citizens at COP can take home to achieve just energy transition for all.
What are Nigerians at COP saying?
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES at COP28, Amara Nwankpa, Public Policy Initiatives at Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Foundation Director, explained that a transition to renewable energy in Nigeria is an important economic imperative because it will drive the country's economy into the future.
However, he said, despite Nigeria's huge energy supply, the majority of Nigerian communities are still energy-poor.
Mr. Amara noted that over 80 percent of Nigerian households still cook with firewood. He said there was a need for Nigerians to embrace renewable energy but must be available, accessible, and affordable to members of the communities.
On his part, Nigeria's Minister of State for Environment, Iziaq Salako, who is one of Nigeria's delegates at COP28 said Nigeria, as a country, is moving towards renewable energy like the rest of the world.
"Our energy transition plan is gradually moving Nigeria from the high dependence on fossil fuel to renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, hydroelectricity and geothermal among others," he said.
He explained that with more technology and research, renewable energy, through solar, will be more readily available and affordable for Nigerians in the coming years.
In a similar manner, Baliqees Salaudeen, a young Climate Justice Advocate, said there is a need for African leaders to work together in order to make renewable energy more affordable and accessible across African communities.
She urged African leaders to speak with one voice, work together and learn from one other and other countries that have got their renewable energy right, to address issues of lingering poor electricity supply in their countries.
"Working together makes things more effective and it helps whenever they visit countries that have already developed to know what they actually want," she said.
Ure Utah, Founder of Bridge Synergy, said one of the ways the Nigerian government can make renewable energy accessible, affordable and available to Nigerians back home is through interventions.
"If there is a pricing strategy whereby the government has its own footprint, investment and finds necessary partners, technology, companies and solutions and then tries to bring them into Nigeria. These companies have solutions that don't cost a lot of money," she said.
Meanwhile, Lucky Abeg, a Commonwealth youth mobiliser, said Nigeria has the potential to tap into the enormous renewable energy( Energy mix).
He said world leaders are having conversations on how countries can tap into technologies that will enable Nigeria to leverage on its resources to have access to clean energy.
Mr Abeng he noted with excitement that Nigeria, at the ongoing COP28, has strongly added its voice to the push for decarbonisation as a way of accessing other energy mix that they have.
"I think this COP is going to provide us with new technologies and also new financial structures that will enable us to access renewable energy back home," he told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.
In his intervention, Aliyu Baba-Ari, Head of Business Development Unit at the Nigerian Centre for Climate Renewal, Resilience and Adaptation (NICCRRA), said there is a need for the Nigerian government to subsidise renewal components of energy.
He is worried that there will be a lot of resistance from the importers of generators in Nigeria once the government decides to switch from fossil fuel to renewable energy
Renewable Energy in Nigeria
At the ongoing COP28 negotiation, just and equitable energy transition and finance are some of the burning conversations coming up the negotiation table, with over 117 world leaders already committed to tripling renewable energy by 2030.
Interestingly, one of Nigeria's priorities at COP is to secure more finances from investors to achieve its Energy Transition Plan and other relevant climate actions in the country.
As of 2022, renewable energy accounted for 16.4 per cent of the total electricity capacity in Nigeria. The share experienced a decrease over the past years. On the contrary, the total renewable energy capacity in Africa has been keeping an upward trend.
According to a report Statisense, in 2022, the electricity demand in Nigeria amounted to 32.1 terawatt hours. This, the statistics firm said, followed an upward trend observed since 2020. Nevertheless, it said a large share of Nigerian citizens remains refrained from access to electricity. In 2020, the report said just over 55 percent of Nigerians had access to electricity, leaving 45 percent of the inhabitants in the dark.
Tackling those power grid issues while the population grows rapidly remains one of the challenges the Nigerian government faces to ensure economic development, statisense noted.
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Ongoing moves and efforts
On Tuesday, World leaders and experts deliberated on several energy mix options available for nations to achieve just energy transition globally. COP28 President, Sultan Al-Jaber and Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, discussed accelerating a just and orderly energy transition to deliver ambitious climate outcomes and keep the North Star of COP28, 1.5°C, within reach.
Similarly, government ministers and CEOs of leading businesses discussed accelerating the commercialisation of hydrogen projects to help keep 1.5C within reach.
Together, they all discussed how to unlock the socio-economic benefits of cross-border value chains for hydrogen and its derivatives.
"39 countries have endorsed the Hydrogen Declaration of Intent to pursue mutual recognition of hydrogen certification schemes," the COP28 organisers noted.
According to the CEO of COP28, Adnan Amin, an estimated 2.3 billion people across the world continue to use polluting fuels when cooking.
He said the lack of progress on clean cooking is estimated by the World Bank to cost more than $2.4 trillion each year.
On Tuesday, Mr Amin stressed the importance of ambitious climate action to enhance outcomes for health, gender, climate and environment.
Amidst efforts to upscale climate actions in all ramifications by 2030, world leaders at the ongoing COP28, have initiated several initiatives and made pronouncements of several pledges aimed at catalyse sustainable finance for climate action globally.
This story was published with the support of Climate Tracker's COP28 Climate Justice Reporting Fellowship
