In the last quarter of 2021, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law, the Climate Change Act 2021, to usher in a new dawn in Nigeria’s efforts towards environmental sustainability and ecosystem preservation by presenting a wholistic approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and attain net zero by 2070. In this newsletter, we present our review of the Climate Change Act 2021 and seek to explore new initiatives such as the introduction of the Climate Change Fund, the Carbon Budget, the National Council on Climate Change, and obligations imposed on Government Entities, Private and Public entities, amongst others.
We believe that the Act will impact the way energy business is done in Nigeria as individuals and businesses will be required to become climate and environmentally conscious to ensure that their operations do not contravene any directive of the Council. We also believe that the possible introduction of carbon tax, reporting obligations and potential penalties for non- compliance could potentially increase the cost of doing business in the energy sector, which would likely have a knock on effect on other sectors.
