Nigeria showcases actions to reduce emissions as Bonn climate summit ends

Nigeria and eight other developing countries have presented an update on their activities to curb greenhouse gas emissions before 2020.

This was one of the major highlights of the 2019 United Nations Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB50), which ended at the weekend. The forum considered a large number of decisions for adoption at the UN Climate Change Conference in Santiago, Chile at the end of the year (COP25, December 2-13 ).

In the event known as Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV), developing countries that showcased their climate actions are Armenia, Brazil, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Thailand, the Republic of North Macedonia, Uruguay and Vietnam.

The showcased actions range from the introduction of emissions trading schemes to efficiency measures in buildings, the promotion of renewable energy and low emission beef production.

For instance, Nigeria highlighted the mitigation actions taken in the energy (mainly in oil and gas) and in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector, both major contributors to the GHG emissions in the country.

Actions and policies in those sectors are also included in the country’s National Determined Contribution (NDC), such as economy-wide energy efficiency programmes, work towards ending of gas flaring, stopping the use of charcoal, renewable energy and climate- smart agriculture, which will contribute to large emission reductions.

Nigeria has already started to develop relevant indicators to track the progress of its mitigation actions, which sets the basis for tracking NDCs.

In the Bonn conference, a new work programme on adaptation was agreed, to be adopted at COP25. The work programme integrates indigenous knowledge both for mitigation and adaptation and addresses the specific vulnerability of indigenous peoples.

The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn is part of a series of meetings this year to drive forward climate action at all levels and work towards reaching the goals of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

Governments also considered how to improve capacity-building arrangements for developing countries and agreed on the next biannual budget for the UNFCCC process.

A technical expert meeting on adaptation focused on adaptation finance, and convened leading authorities on adaptation and finance to exchange ideas and innovative case studies.

The “Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI)” held its first meeting.

Under the “Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture”, governments considered agriculture as the foundation of human existence and also of agriculture being very vulnerable to climate change impacts.

Experts highlighted ways in which off-grid and decentralized energy solutions can be deployed for smart energy and water use in the “agri-food chain.”

Several gender-related events boosted gender-responsive climate policy and took forward the landmark 2017 Gender Action Plan.

Governments agreed a draft decision to be adopted at COP25 to strengthen education, awareness and public engagement under the UNFCCC.

In order to achieve the central Paris Agreement goal of holding the global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced 45 per cent by 2030, and climate neutrality achieved by 2050.

Governments in Bonn discussed Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which would support countries to meet a part of their domestic goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions through the use of so-called “market mechanisms”.

Article six is one of the few issues left unresolved following that adoption last year of the bulk of the guidelines to make the Paris agreement operational.
 
“Governments have made progress in several important areas,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

“But whilst the mood was constructive, we need to resolve all outstanding issues by COP25 in order to live up to our collective responsibility and ensure that ambition is raised to the extent that the worst impacts of climate change can be avoided,” she said.

While the meeting took place, multiple heat records were broken for June in Europe, including in the conference host country Germany. The heatwave in Europe follows extreme heat episodes in Australia, India, Pakistan and parts of the Middle East this year.

“We can no longer afford incremental progress when tackling climate change – we need deep, transformational and systemic change throughout society which is crucial for a low-emissions, highly-resilient and more sustainable future,” she added.
 
“I urge governments to use the rest of this year to find solutions, allowing solid rules for carbon markets to finally take shape. Businesses want this and they are looking for positive signals from governments that they will do this. They know it’s a good way to reduce emissions globally,” Ms. Espinosa said.

Highlighting the importance of markets for effective climate action, the Executive Secretary noted that this week, investors managing more than $34 trillion in assets made a strong call to governments to design and implement policies in line with the Paris Agreement goals.