A non-governmental organization, International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development, ICEED, has concluded arrangements aimed at making the Nigeria’s clean cooking campaign a national priority to attract both the local and international investment to the sector.

Its Executive Director, Mr. Ewah Eleri made the assertion at the Stakeholder Engagement Workshop in Abuja, explaining that an approval has been given to that effect to attract investor into clean cooking interventions, carbon market and climate finance ecosystem.

He said the workshop would look on the key actors in the clean energy efficiency like solid biomass for cooking, as well as examine the current Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) landscape and make it accessible to household and climate change.

“We intend to generate priority actions for a more coordinated clean cooking MRV framework in Nigeria by identifying bottlenecks affecting clean cooking project validation, verification and carbon credit issuance. MRV providers and development partners can better align efforts to strengthen it for clean cooking practically.”

According to the Executive Director,
“We will unlock Carbon Finance so that there will be a scale-up of clean cookstove distribution in the country, aligning with Nigeria’s NDC commitments, and make it long-term project to encourage investor confidence in the sector.”

Also, Dr. Bekeme Olowola,in a presentation on Digital MRV and the Future of Nigeria’s Carbon Market, said it should be from episode self-reporting to transaction -native as well as verifier -grade data noting that it must be based on verifiable data and not by human memory or episode surveys.

She argued that one data backbone for the entire ecosystem and will aim at eradicating data silos to build unprecedented buyers confidence to receive automated due diligence packs, calling for high integrity, zero hardware that would support multi-fuel, and leverage on the smartphone already in the user’s pocket.

“Verifier efficiency will improve by up to seventy percent radically accelerating credit issuance and no single solution fits all. Choice must be dictated by project scalable fuel type, and regulatory rigour. We are here to get demonstrate what is possible, not to sell a monopoly. The goal is a coordinated credible, and scalable MRV ecosystem for Nigeria.”