The Federal Government has developed an Energy Transition Plan “which shows that achieving net-zero by 2060 will require investments of about $410 billion, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has said.
Osinbajo said Nigeria presents a unique investment destination for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is a transition fuel alongside other renewable sources.
He stated this during his keynote address delivered on Tuesday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the World Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association is holding its week-long forum.
The association’s 2021 LPG Week brings together over 2,000 delegates from 72 countries, including major LPG companies, senior public sector officials, industry experts and other relevant stakeholders.
“The world should not have to choose between energy poverty and climate change as this can be addressed with both natural gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas as transition fuels alongside other renewable sources,” the VP was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande.
Osinbajo’s presentation at the Global Forum in Dubai was entitled “Why Liquefied Petroleum Gas should be Transition Fuel in Developing Countries.”
Speaking on the theme ‘Energizing Tomorrow’ at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Osinbajo noted that it was “worrying that a growing number of wealthy nations have banned or restricted public investment in fossil fuels, including natural gas.”
“Such policies often do not distinguish between different kinds of fossil fuels, nor do they consider the vital role some of these fuels play in powering the growth of developing economies, especially in sub-Saharan Africa,” he stated.
“As development finance institutions try to balance climate concerns against the need to spur equitable development and increase energy security, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union have all taken aggressive steps to limit fossil fuel investments in developing and emerging economies.
“The World Bank and other multilateral development banks are being urged by some shareholders to do the same. The African Development Bank, for instance, is increasingly unable to support large natural gas projects in the face of European shareholder pressure.”
Citing Nigeria’s efforts at balancing energy security with environmental sustainability, Osinbajo stated that the Federal Government has developed an Energy Transition Plan “which shows that achieving net-zero by 2060 will require investments of about $410 billion, above business as usual, and that natural gas will play a critical role in addressing the clean cooking challenge, as well providing grid stability to integrate renewables at scale.”
According to him, “Nigeria has also developed an integrated energy plan with a clean cooking model which shows the clean cooking opportunities across technologies such as electric- cooking and LPG.
“This model shows that there is an opportunity to transition at least five million households to LPG solutions, which will cut emissions by 30 per cent compared to business as usual, reduce other pollutants by 90 per cent or more and avoid 6.9 billion kilogrammes of forest loss from biomass collection.”
The VP added that “LPG remains an ideal fuel to support the journey to renewables, as it is easily stored, does not degrade over time, requires no heating or complex filtration to keep the fuel in a usable condition, and does not constantly boil off.”
He said that for a gas-rich country like Nigeria with over 206 TCF of proven reserves and an additional 600 TCF scope to be proven, “it is evident that what makes the most sense from the point of view of balancing energy security with environmental sustainability is the use of LPG at least as a transition fuel.”
Citing Nigeria as an example, the VP said, “For countries such as my own, that is rich in natural resources but still energy poor – from the point of view of access, the transition must not come at the expense of affordable and reliable energy for people, cities, and industry. On the contrary, it must be inclusive, equitable, and just—which means preserving the right to sustainable development and poverty eradication as enshrined in global treaties such as the Paris accord.”
The Vice President then made reference to Nigeria’s Energy Transition, observing that the plan is tied to adopting and domesticating all forms of cleaner energy.
“These cleaner energy systems include solar for electricity, waste to energy, wind energy, hydro power and natural gas, which aims to adopt and domesticate all forms of cleaner energy sources from household use to commercial use,” he stated.
