Osinbajo canvasses phased transition from fossil fuels

•‘ Withdrawing financing for fossil fuels may deepen energy poverty’

THE Federal Government has canvassed gradual adoption and implementation of the transitioning scheme for fossil fuels, especially for Africa’s developing economies with huge energy access gaps.

This followed restriction of funding by many development finance institutions for investments in fossil fuels. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had argued that with a population of about 120 million people without access to reliable and affordable electricity, a just transition to net- zero emissions, probably one where gas as a fossil fuel was still supported, especially for those in Africa, was important, especially as it would facilitate an end of polluting fuels such as coal and diesel.

Osinbajo noted that the deployment of the five million solar power connections, which targets 25 million households across the country under the Economic Sustainability Plan ( ESP), reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the global green energy initiative.

He stated this yesterday during a meeting with European Union ( EU) delegation led by its Executive Vice President, Valdis Dombrovskis, maintaining that the international community should preserve financing for gas projects in Nigeria and other developing countries during the transition to net- zero emission.

Discussions at the meeting, which held virtually focused on bilateral investment agreements between Nigeria and the EU cutting across diverse areas including technology, intellectual property rights, research and innovation, humanitarian assistance, energy access and renewable energy. Already, the World Trade Organisation ( WTO) had perfected plans to unveil a Trade and Environmental Sustainability ( TES) joint initiative group, which would be a forum for discussing carbon border taxes.

A WTO release last November on objectives of the group had indicated that its work programme could contribute to eliminating tariff and non- tariff barriers on environmental goods and services, reforming inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and promoting a global circular economy by facilitating trade along supply chains.

The EU was expected to make a proposal in the second quarter for a carbon border tax on imports of products relating to their carbon footprint in a scheme designed to take effect in 2023.