Speaking points – National Climate Change Roundtable, Ministry of Environment, Abuja, 27th of August 2009 

"

• Thank you for the invitation to this important national climate change roundtable. We believe this is an excellent initiative and indeed very timely, since Copenhagen is but three and a half months away. We appreciate the opportunity to say a couple of words as Local Presidency of the European Union.

• Firstly, it should be noted that the EU welcomes a deeper dialogue and collaboration with Nigeria on climate change, as agreed at the Nigeria –EU Ministerial Troika Meeting in Prague on 9 June 2009. We are glad to partner with Nigeria. Our participation here – Presidency, Member States and European Commission – is testament to that.

• Copenhagen is our immediate aim: a new climate regime is to be agreed upon. The targets are ambitious. All countries need to be onboard. It is important that we work jointly towards a comprehensive result in Copenhagen. Thereafter, our focus should shift to implementation of verifiable commitments.

• The EU has been and remains proactive in climate efforts ahead of the meeting in Copenhagen. The success of the European Union in agreeing on an ambitious climate package with commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 per cent by 2020, assuming an international agreement, lays a good foundation for continued international climate efforts.   
• The steps the EU has taken are important. However, the climate change challenge can only be tackled effectively at the global level. We expect other industrialised countries to make comparable commitments and other countries too, in particular the rapidly growing economies, to take action to enable the global trend to be reversed.

• We welcome the agreement made in Italy recently at the meeting of the G8 and the Major Economies Forum. The agreement is a necessary step towards the conference in Copenhagen. We trust that the commitments may be corroborated, or even surpassed, at the Climate Summit in NY, 22nd of September.

• We also welcome the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change, adopted in June by the African Ministerial Conference on Environment. The EU is encouraged by the African coordination, and also that Nigeria was designated, at the last AU Summit, as one of nine African countries to propel an African Common position.

• Indeed, the world as a whole must draw sufficiently clear conclusions from the goal of limiting the global average rise in temperature to 2ºC. Global emissions must decline by 50 per cent below the 1990 level by 2050, and during the same period the industrialised countries must reduce their emissions by at least 80 per cent below the 1990 level. These will be the obvious next steps to be introduced in the global negotiations.

• We note that Nigeria is among the most vulnerable African countries, with rising sea level and deforestation as two principal concerns.

• Putting an end to gas flaring could be Nigeria’s main mitigation effort. Greenhouse gas emissions in Nigeria are the second largest in Africa in absolute terms. We therefore commend efforts towards ending gas flaring.

• Another mitigation effort can be to halt the rate of deforestation of native tropical forests in Nigeria, which between 2000 and 2005 was as high as 11% per year, and in its stead promote reforestation and aforestation.

• We are glad that the Adaptation Fund could be operated in Poznan. However, adequate and smooth financing is still an issue. All channels should be explored. Access to Clean Development Mechanism needs to be improved. The prevalence of CDM-projects in Africa is currently too low.

• The EU and Africa share a strong commitment to halt and reduce the negative consequences of climate change.

• The Africa-EU partnership on climate change should be used to further adaptation policies. The Global Climate Change Alliance between the EU and developing countries most vulnerable to climate change will strengthen technical and financial support. The EU is ready to make its contribution with concrete and result-oriented projects.

• Access to renewable energy sources is instrumental for achieving a low carbon development path. Nigeria has great possibilities in this area and for instance hydropower should be developed to its full potential. Existing flows of investments should be geared towards exploring such energy sources - and clean technology overall.

• One important factor is to help developing countries meet the challenges brought by climate change. The EU is willing to take on its fair share in financing capacity-building, technology, adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. We look forward to learn more about Nigeria’s needs in these regards: the national adaptation plan or strategy, its assessment of technology transfer, and so on.

• Clearly, we have all the information we need to conclude that now is the time for decisive and urgent action. The window of opportunity is limited and the more we wait, the higher the risks and the costs will be.

• Copenhagen must go down in history as the crossroads at which the world changed direction by agreeing targets and actions ambitious enough to avert dangerous climate change. That is the challenge of 2009. The EU is glad to take it on, partnering with Nigeria. "