Tinubu urges world leaders to address climate crisis

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday urged world leaders to address the worsening global climate crisis.

Tinubu, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the call during a high-level virtual dialogue on climate and the just transition.

He reaffirmed Nigeria’s readiness to forge a paradigm shift in which climate action and economic growth advanced together, not in opposition.

The president said: “The global climate emergency demands our collective, courageous, and sustained leadership.

“For Nigeria, the urgency of this moment is clear: we view climate action not as a cost to development, but as a strategic imperative.”

The meeting, co-hosted by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, and the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacia Lula da Silva, aimed to accelerate global climate ambition ahead of COP30, which the South American nation will host.

Leaders from 17 countries, including China, the European Union, climate-vulnerable states, and key regional blocs such as the African Union, ASEAN, and the Alliance of Small Island States, participated in the meeting.

Tinubu, who addressed the session from Abuja, outlined Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan (ETP) as a bold, pragmatic roadmap for reaching net-zero emissions by 2060.

READ ALSO: Tinubu promises better, more prosperous Nigeria

The ETP targets five core sectors – power, cooking, transportation, oil and gas, and industry – and identifies a financing need of over $410 billion by 2060 to achieve these goals.

“We are, therefore, in the process of aligning our regulatory environment, fiscal incentives, and institutional frameworks to ensure that energy access, decarbonisation, and economic competitiveness proceed in lockstep. We are also taking leadership on energy access,” he stated.

The president underscored Nigeria’s role as an anchor country in the Mission 300 initiative, implemented in partnership with the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

The initiative aims to deliver electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030.

He recalled his participation in the Dar es Salaam Declaration earlier this year and Nigeria’s presentation of its National Energy Compact, which outlined reform commitments, investment opportunities, and measurable targets to expand clean energy access and clean cooking solutions.

“This compact is among the first of its kind in Africa and lays out our policy reform commitments and specific investment opportunities in the energy sector. It sets quantifiable targets to grow electricity access and increase clean cooking penetration.

“We are working to build capacity and ensure that we meet these targets, reflecting not just our ambition but also our commitment to deliver on that ambition measurably,” the Nigerian leader concluded.

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