The government of Demark has reiterated commitment to work with Nigeria in achieving its climate ambition goals.
The Danish Minister of Development Corporation and Global Climate Change Policy, Mr. Dan Jorgenson stated this when a delegation from the Danish government paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for Environment Dr Izaq Salako in Abuja, the Nigeria’s capital.
He said Denmark and the European Union are aligned with the opinions and declarations of the African leaders in fighting climate change.
“Denmark and European Union are very much aligned with the opinions and declarations of the African leaders, and I think there’s great opportunity for us to work together on fighting climate change, we need more mitigation, especially from the biggest emitters on the planet, on financing both with regards to supporting the mitigation efforts but also for climate adaptation on loss and damage where last year in Egypt, the important decision was made.” He said.
Jorgenson believes that taking care of the environment is extremely important, adding that the meeting was to focus on how both countries can learn from each other and share experiences.
“I represent a country that has gone through a great transformation especially in our energy sector, when we started our transformation back in the 1970s, we didn’t even really talk about climate environment recently we started it, because of the oil crisis, we wanted to be independent, we wanted energy security that’s why we started investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, many decades later the focus of the agenda has shifted now we do it because it is important to create a more sustainable future.” He explained.
He also noted that Demark will collaborate bilaterally with the Nigerian government in ensuring that Nigeria gets an ambitious result at the upcoming COP 28 in Dubai.
“I think it’s important to underline that what we agree on is that countries like Nigeria, a continent like Africa, is not to blame for climate change, because climate change is here because of pollution that has taken place in 100 years, 10 decades in other places on the planet, what’s extremely unfair is that it’s Africa that’s hit the hardest by the fight of climate change this I think is also why the principle of common but differentiated responsibility needs to be at the key of the negotiations.” He added.
Responding, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, Dr Izaq Salako said that the ministry also identifed five priority areas of President Bola Tinubu eight point agenda which requires climate action as the country transitions to green economy.
He said the meeting would help Nigeria navigate its economy to be less dependent on oil to a cleaner code economy without increasing energy poverty, or increasing hardship for the citizens.
Dr. Salako further explained that the Federal Ministry of Environment is also working to ensure that it prevents disasters like flood that can drive people into poverty.
“President Bola Tinubu as identify eight key priority areas that the administration is going to be focusing on, some of these priority areas are cross cutting priority areas in terms of anti corruption stance, priority areas in terms of inclusivity and so on, the Federal Ministry of Environment as identified that at least five of those priority areas requires climate action for it to be achieved, talking about food security, there’s a climate action to it, if the land is depleted, there cannot be food security, and is an environmental action to ensure that we stop depleted land.”. He said.
He however, noted that the Ministry of Environment is also working to ensure that as the country transitions to green economy, data would be leveraged to create jobs for people while also mobilising green financing.
“Our ministry has been piloting the sovereign green bond, which we’re about to do the third tranche so those are features that requires climate action to achieve, we also have 18 deliverables for the Federal Ministry of Environment, which are also very important to ensure that we need to achieve to achieve the agenda of the President and the current administration.”
“We are happy to receive the delegation from Denmark to share our experiences with them, to learn from them and also as they also learn from us, so that there can be a cross fertilization of idea, because at the end of it all, effects of climate issue is a global issue.” The Minister added.
The aim of the visit was to discuss Nigeria Demark Green partnership and explore possible areas of cooperation in the light of Nigeria’s priorities for the green transition of the economy, and Climate Change adaptation ahead of COP28.
Foluke Ibitomi
