Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said Nigeria expected more developed countries to change the direction of the conversation around energy transition in favour of Africa at the COP26 summit.
The COP26 summit, scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12, is aimed at accelerating action toward the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said the vice-president spoke at a virtual panel discussion organised by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change ahead of the summit.
The title of the panel discussion is, “A Just Transition: Balancing Climate Mitigation with Africa’s Development.”
Osinbajo was in the panel with the President of Tanzania, Samia Hassan, the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair and the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Dr Vera Songwe.
The vice president said conversations at the conference must be tilted in favour of Africa.
He said the Fund could have a dedicated green finance component as well as projects to reduce emissions from main pollutant activities in Nigeria.
Earlier, in his submission, Blair called for a new partnership with Africa on Climate Change.
He said it would be necessary to use gas as a transitional fuel as doing that was essential, not only for development but also for the environment.
“The partnership will also help put the projects for clean energy and development in Africa on an investable footing.
“When people invest in Africa, the rates of returns are very good and the risks are not as great as people think they are.
“It is an important forum to talk about what we really could do in concrete terms.
“I really like the idea of a new partnership with Africa on climate change because a lot of the conversations going on about climate change are over the heads of many of us in Africa because the issues that concern us are not on the table.”
