Nigeria has set a target to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 32 per cent by 2035, Vice President Kashim Shettima announced yesterday at the Leaders’ Climate Summit during the COP30 conference in Belém, Brazil.
Representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, VP Shettima said the new target reaffirms Nigeria’s leadership in Africa’s climate action efforts and reflects a firm commitment to global sustainability.
The reduction plan, he explained, will be driven by two flagship initiatives – the National Carbon Market Framework and the Climate Change Fund – designed to attract billions of dollars in clean energy investments and support climate adaptation across vulnerable communities.
Shettima noted that Nigeria has also launched a five-year Carbon Market Roadmap to establish an Emissions Trading System and Carbon Tax Regime, encouraging industries to innovate sustainably.
Urging developed nations to match rhetoric with results, Shettima said: “Let COP30 be remembered as the moment the world moved from pledges to performance, from ambition to action.”
He warned that climate change is already causing devastating loss and displacement globally, adding that developing nations cannot meet climate goals “on goodwill alone.”
“We need a reliable and equitable financial architecture that recognises our realities and empowers us to deliver on global commitments. We are not the problem; we are part of the solution,” he said.
Shettima highlighted Nigeria’s Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which outlines actions across energy, agriculture, transport, waste, and industry.
He also reaffirmed the Decade of Gas Strategy as a transition pathway that balances gas utilisation with solar expansion to drive rural electrification and sustainable growth.
Other global leaders, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Prince William, also called for urgent, collective climate action to avert irreversible ecological damage.
