The Federal Ministry of Environment has launched the updated Nigeria Energy Calculator (NECAL) 2050 to address climate change in Nigeria.
The programme which took place on Monday at the Transcorp Hotel Abuja was organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the department of climate change of the Federal Ministry of Environment, supported by the United Kingdom (UK) Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through the British High Commission in Nigeria.
In her remarks, the Minister of State for Environment, Barr. Sharon Ikeazor, lauded the launch of the calculator, describing it as a tool that would help Nigeria achieve its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in mitigating the negative effects of climate change.
“I recall the MoU jointly signed by the Energy Commission of Nigeria, department of climate change of Federal Ministry of Environment and United Kingdom at the premises of the British High Commission in Abuja on June 23, 2020, to initiate the commencement of the project on the development of the NECAL as an updated version to address climate change in Nigeria.
“The 2050 calculator was originally developed by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to help the UK Government plan its low carbon transition in an evidence-based way. Versions of the 2050 calculator are now being used in over 30 countries around the world and Nigeria is one of 10 countries supported through the UK Government’s International Climate Finance (ICF) programme to develop a calculator.
“This work is led by the Energy Commission of Nigeria and the resulting Nigerian Energy Calculator was one of the tools that informed the country’s NDC and its Sustainable Energy for All Action Agenda (Vision 2030).
“With the National Climate Change Act in place to provide the needed legal framework for the implementation of climate change policies and strategies, I look forward to the utilisation of this policy tool to address and support the development of Nigeria’s long-term low-emissions towards meeting the Net Zero commitment by 2060,” Ikeazor said.
Earlier, the ECN director-general, Prof. Eli Bala, stressed that the NECAL2050 which is an energy demand and supply model that explores, with costs, options for reducing emissions associated with Nigeria’s energy systems, land use and agriculture in the period up to 2050, is a recent addition to the commission’s energy planning tools, made possible by the United Kingdom Government, in the wake of climate change concerns and the needed to plan for energy transition.
“The Energy Calculator 2050 was therefore developed in 2010 by the then UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (UK-DECC) as an energy-planning tool to help explore UK’s public opinion on energy pathways that will facilitate the reduction of UK’s GHG emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 relative to the 1990 baseline emissions, to comply with its 2008 Climate Change Act.”
“In the 2nd quarter of 2020 and before COP26 in 2021, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) of United Kingdom through the British High Commission, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, arranged another support to Nigeria to update the 1st version of NECAL2050 to facilitate the review and deepening of Nigeria’s NDCs to be presented in COP26.
“An MoU was thus signed between ECN, Department of Climate Change of Federal Ministry of Environment and United Kingdom at the premises of the British High Commission in Abuja on June 23, 2020. Since then, work commenced with the formation of the National Steering Committee and Technical Working Group. A consortium of consultants led by Mott MacDonald provided the technical support needed for the project.
“The updated and 2nd version of NECAL2050 is now ready and will be presented later by the representative of the Technical Working Group. We are here today, physically and virtually, to launch the second version of the NECAL2050.
” I will like to state that the NECAL2050 will support Nigeria through the Energy Commission of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Environment in the systematic production, using local-capacity, of its energy transition plan and periodic update to comply with the commitments of energy security in an environmentally sustainable manner, particularly the net-zero emissions commitment by 2060 made at COP26 by our government,” he added.
Earlier, the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, called for the inclusion of women and girls in the implementation of the NECAL.
