CNG: Expert pushes for clean energy to address global warming  

The Nigerian government has been urged to intensify efforts to tackle climate change by embracing renewable energy instead of fossil fuel products such as diesel, petrol and compressed natural gas (CNG) recently introduced as an alternative to petrol.

Ms Kathy Mulvey, Accountability Campaign Director, Climate & Energy Programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists, based in the United States, gave the advice during a recent visit to Nigeria, warning that methane produced by natural gas was even more dangerous than carbon dioxide.

The President Bola Tinubu-led administration has rolled out plans to inject hundreds of CNG-powered vehicles into the country’s transport sector as a cheaper alternative in order to cushion the effects of hikes in petrol price occasioned by the subsidy removal.

Mulvey, who was received over the weekend at the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) office in Lagos, said CNG was as dangerous as petrol in warming the planet, adding that recent congressional investigations in the US looked into how fossil fuel companies had presented gas breached fuel.

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“We hear a lot from major oil and gas companies. They are trying to get credit for reducing emissions in their net zero claims. Methane is six times more causing global warming than carbon dioxide. So, it (CNG) is not going to be a solution in terms of climate change and global warming,” she said.

Mulvey also spoke on the need for the government leaders to hold major oil companies accountable for environmental pollution caused by refining activities.

“My responsibility as a corporate accountability campaigner is rooted in the fundamental strategies of going after the leaders. And if we can get changes from the leaders, there will be changes throughout the industry,” she added.

In his brief remark, CAPPA Executive Director, Oluwafemi Akinbode, acquainted Mulvey with the organisation’s thematic areas, including public health advocacy, social justice, extractives and environment, democracy outreach and climate change.