FG to invest N20bn Green bond to fight emission

The federal government has disclosed plans to invest N20 billion worth of green bond towards the reduction of emission and to fight climate change in the country.
The Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, speaking at a briefing in Abuja on Nigeria’s participation in the on-going COP22 conference in Marrakech, Morocco, said the green bond is expected to promote investments in transportation, renewable energy, bio-fuel, such as Jatropha, and gas-flaring.
She also said the ministry would introduce the use of electric buses as the first project in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that the first green bond would be facilitated and made ready before Q1 2017.
“The green bond will come in the 2017 budget and that is when we begin to throw life into it.
We intend to get three or four projects that succeed and it opens the pipeline for others that can come through, that is when the international bond will support us,” she said.
The minister said the federal government, which is a signatory to the Paris Agreement 21 of the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is committed to reducing global average temperature to 1.5 degree centigrade in alignment with global actions to reduce risks and impacts of climate change.   
She said: “The green bond itself puts together resources that channel investments into programmes that will reduce emission. In specific, for transportation in Abuja the use electric buses will reduce emission completely and an investment in that is green.”
“We will also have renewable energy, so more off-grid, and mini-grid solar power is another form of bringing investments from the green bond. Third is that, we want to produce fuel from Jatropha, that requires investments in irrigation, farmers and producers. So that is green.”
The minister explained that they are putting on processes and criteria so that the Ministry of Environment will certify what is green. “So we don’t have what people call green-washing. We are working with climate bond initiative,” she added.
Speaking on expectations from the COP 22, the minister said the 22nd session of the conference would focus on issues such as operationalising the Paris climate change agreement adopted last year in France.
She said there would be discussions on climate financing which include the $100 billion developed countries were expected to prepare to support actions against climate change in developing countries up to 2020.