A Group, Climate Action Africa, has launched CMA Labs to address issues of climate change, including severe droughts, flooding and escalating agricultural challenges.
     
Co-founder and team lead of the group, Grace Oluchi, who addressed the media in Lagos, said Climate Action Africa took the bold steps to launch CMA Labs, an innovative hub dedicated to supporting the development of the climate-tech startup ecosystem in Africa.
   
According to her, climate change poses significant threats to Nigeria and Africa’s environment and economy, needing urgent and sustainable solutions. 
  
Through CMA Labs, Oluchi said the group aims to pioneer a thriving climate-tech sector that harnesses latest scientific and technological advancements to combat greenhouse gas emissions, protect the environment and ensure Africa can feed itself and power itself sustainably. 
    
“Our mission is to pave the way for a more sustainable future for all Nigerians and other countries on the African continent. With a strong focus on data-driven decision-making, CMA Labs is developing an innovative data aggregation platform.

“This tool will pull in diverse data sources, enhance predictive modeling, and enable effective data analysis to aid organisations in understanding the impact of natural disasters across the country and empower stakeholders to make informed choices about climate-related issues,” Oluchi said.
   
She called on the Nigerian government to co-create with industry stakeholders an enabling environment that supports climate-tech organisations and startups in developing sustainable solutions. 
  
Also, the chief executive officer of the group, Alice Eze, said one of the most pressing challenges is lack of environmental data for organisations. 
  
She stressed that CMA Labs strives to bring transparency to such entities with vested interests in Nigeria, helping them understand their carbon emissions, environmental impact, and effects of their operations on the environment. 
   
According to her, “Our efforts include fostering collaboration with startups to develop innovative technologies that mitigate the worst effects of climate change.” 
  
She noted that the scourge of plastic pollution affecting Nigeria’s farming industry has driven the group to run successful campaigns, adding: “We are working with organisations capable of extracting polymers from discarded materials, such as lobster shells, potato starches, and corn husks, to create biodegradable food packaging. 
   
“Adding value to the circular economy, we would mainstream innovative tools and processes that perfect our waste management processes and bring about increased use of biodegradable materials, which have positive impacts on our environment.”