Nigeria: Climate Progress Report

Nigeria is a large developing country struggling to reach its emission targets. Relative to the other Climate Scorecard countries, Nigeria’s goals and targets are minimal. The government has no emission target for 2030, and recently stated that they would not be able to reach their net-zero target by 2050, which is what is expected by other countries. In fact, at COP 26 President Buhari stated that Nigeria would only be able to reach net zero by 2060 if they receive substantial foreign financing. To keep track of Nigeria’s emission reduction progress, there are three helpful indicators:

Total CO₂ emissions (annual)
Biofuel consumption (annual)
Deforestation rate. (annual)

The importance of reducing CO₂ emissions and its impact on the environment does not need further explaining. It is imperative for Nigeria to work together to reduce the prevalence of CO₂ emissions. The most reliable and consistent way to obtain this information is from IEA. The metric that should be used is total Million tons of CO₂ emissions. This data is updated annually. The current value of Mt in Nigeria is 92.02, which is 227.94% higher than the 1990 value.

The burning of biofuel and biomass is a significant contributor to GHG emissions in Nigeria. In 2018, Nigeria was responsible for 1/3 of Africa’s total fine particular matter emissions, largely due to biomass burning. Actually, biomass burning accounted for 500,000 premature deaths in the region in 2018. It is clear that Nigeria must work reduce the amount of biofuel burning occurs across the country, especially in rural areas. Similar to GHG emissions, this data can be pulled from IEA. The measurement is total consumption of energy by source, and Nigeria consumed 4,549,953 TJ of Biofuels and Waste in 2019. Nigeria should try its best to make this value smaller.

Tracking deforestation and tree cover loss is a great way of keeping tabs on GHG emissions progress in Nigeria. From 2000 to 2005, Nigeria had the highest levels of deforestation in the world as 55.7% of the country’s forests were lost. While the rate of deforestation has diminished, it is still an important measurement in the country. The government must work to stop deforestation. In 2020, Nigeria lost 99.2 kilo-hectares of natural forest, which equated to 59.5 metric tons of CO₂ emissions. To substantiate this, Nigeria has lost 96% of its original forests due to deforestation. The best way to receive this data is from Global Forest Watch, which measures forest cover loss in total kilo-hectares and its total CO₂ emissions.

Performance Indicator	Baseline Value	Date
CO2 Emissions	92.02 Mt	2020
Biofuel Consumption	4,549,953 TJ	2019
Deforestation Rate	99.2 Kilo-hectares	2020