Nigeria aims to raise an initial $10 billion in funding to implement its energy transition plan ahead of COP27 climate talks later this year, the country’s vice president said. 

Africa’s most populous country needs at least an additional $10 billion a year and a total $410 billion to deliver on its net-zero targets by 2060, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said during a virtual launch of the country’s energy transition road map. Nigeria has already secured a $1.5 billion pledge from the World Bank and is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for an additional $1.5 billion, according to a government statement.

Osinbajo said that every African country has signed the Paris Agreement and some, including Nigeria, have announced net-zero pledges. But a lack of electricity “hurts livelihoods and destroys the dreams of hundreds of millions of young people.”

“For Africa, the problem of energy poverty is as important as our climate ambitions,” Osinbajo said in a video address. “Energy use is crucial for almost every conceivable aspect of development -- wealth, health, nutrition, water, infrastructure, education and life expectancy.”

Nigeria’s energy transition plan is designed to lift 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, drive economic growth, bring modern energy services to the people and manage the expected long-term job losses in the oil sector due to global decarbonization, according to the statement.

Bloomberg