Lagos unveils 5-year climate action plan

The Lagos State government on Tuesday unveiled a five-year Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2020-2025, towards combating the challenges of climate change.

The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, told the state 8th International Climate Change Summit in Victoria Island that the CAP was geared toward achieving the ultimate goal of a zero-carbon Lagos.

The governor noted that prior to the Paris Climate Change Conference of 2015, the state government set out to develop a climate change policy and action plan.

He said that the climate change policy and action plan encapsulated the state’s vision for combating the challenge of climate change and achieving the ultimate goal of a zero-carbon Lagos.

According to him, the state government has successfully updated the document to reflect the targets and goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

“The product is the ‘Lagos Climate Action Plan: Second Five-year Plan 2020- 2025’.

“I am delighted to let you know that Lagos is the first state in Nigeria to have developed a Climate Action Plan to help achieve an emission-neutral city by 2050. The emergence of this updated plan establishes Lagos as a national leader.

“Our gratitude goes to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which Lagos State signed up for in 2018, and which has helped us update our Climate Action Plan in line with prevailing realities.

“This year’s summit is for us an opportunity to present the new Lagos State Climate Action Plan to the world. Painstaking work has gone into it, and we are proud that we have been able to deliver a robust document,” he said.

The governor said that the updated CAP showed that the three main areas of threat to zero-carbon ambitions in Lagos State were energy, waste and transport. He said that energy, waste and transport accounted for 90 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission, hence the focus of the summit.

“Our goal now is to extend this awareness to the entire populace, to get Lagosians to imbibe the culture of climate awareness in their homes, workplaces and lifestyles.

The consul general of Switzerland Embassy, Thomas Schneider, congratulated Lagos on the unveiling of the Climate Action Plan, noting that effects of environmental problems knew no borders.