Nigeria is pioneering a voluntary billion dollars’ worth Carbon Market in Africa, which international experts estimates will create millions of new jobs in the country over the period of energy transition.
Spokesman for the Vice President, Laolu Akande stated in a release on Sunday that the project is a new and innovative Climate Change solution.
He said the project is part of efforts of the Nigerian Government to attain the global net-zero emissions target.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is a member of the recently formed international Steering Committee for the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), with the objective of facilitating the emergence and growth of the market in Africa.
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Aside Prof. Osinbajo, other members of the Committee of the ACMI, which would be announced early in November at the COP27 meeting in Egypt, are former President of Colombia, Ivan Duque Marquez; President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, among others, including officials of the United Nations, USAID, Gates Foundation and other international private sector players.
ACMI’s estimates suggest that Nigeria alone could produce up to 30 million carbon credits per year by 2030, which at $20/credit would be worth over half a billion dollars annually.
According to the estimates by the ACMI, “at this level of production, the industry could potentially support over 3 million Nigerian jobs. And Nigeria has only a portion of Africa’s total potential—the impact for the continent as a whole could be far greater.”
Akande said in the release that the jobs would span the period of the energy transition, starting from the time the market is able to kickoff, till 2060.
