Nigeria is glad that the United States of America is fully back on board the climate change global agenda, in a commendable restoration of the U.S. government’s support for the Paris Agreement.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said this when he received a U.S. government delegation led by the White House Deputy National Security Advisor, Mr Jonathan Finer, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“We are happy that the U.S. is fully on board with climate change and back to the table on this issue,” Osinbajo was quoted as saying in a statement on Tuesday by his media aide, Laolu Akande.
“I think one has to commend the drive that this U.S. administration has put behind climate change.”
Four years ago, the Trump administration announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation issues.
But on assumption to power earlier this year, the Joe Biden administration announced the restoration of America’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Reiterating Nigeria’s position regarding a just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy ahead of the Net-zero Emissions 2050 target, Osinbajo expressed Nigeria’s concerns on some issues.
“Among other things, (is) first about some of what has been going on, especially around gas as an effective transition fuel, and how many of the Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and some countries are insisting that gas projects should be defunded,” he said at the meeting held on Monday.
“This is a principal concern to us; it is one that we have made central to our advocacy and it is one of the issues that we intend to promote at the COP26.”
The Vice President informed the U.S. delegation of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan