Nigeria’s Climate Finance Push Takes Centre Stage at COP30

Nigeria is pushing for increased global climate finance to support its efforts to combat climate change and restore its natural ecosystems.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu at the 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil, emphasized Nigeria’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

“Through our National Carbon Market Framework and Climate Change Fund, we aim to mobilize up to three billion US dollars annually in climate finance,” Shettima said.

“These resources will be reinvested in community-led reforestation, blue carbon projects, and sustainable agriculture.”

He urged the international community to significantly increase grant-based finance and implement innovative mechanisms such as debt-for-nature swaps and Blue Carbon Markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Shettima noted that nature, forests, oceans, and landscapes are shared global assets that must be protected through predictable, equitable, and accessible funding.

“We call on our global partners to recognize the economic value of nature and to channel significant finance towards protecting and restoring it,” he said, highlighting the injustice faced by global South nations.

Nigeria’s Climate Change Act of 2021 enshrines nature-based solutions as a legal obligation of the state.

Shettima outlined several initiatives underway, including the Great Green Wall Initiative, which aims to replant degraded lands across 11 states, and the Forest Landscape Restoration Plan, targeting the restoration of over 2 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

Shettima emphasized that Africa is not a passive victim of climate change, but rather a continent with vast untapped carbon sinks and a youthful population capable of driving innovation.

“Africa’s rainforests, mangroves, peatlands, and oceans are global assets. Our young people are the world’s greatest untapped source of innovation and resolve,” he said, calling on global partners to join Nigeria and the African Union in advancing the African Nature Finance Framework.