Energy subsidies harm the environment

Traditional use of firewood is accelerating deforestation, especially in northern Ghana; and about 23,000 citizens die annually from smoke from cooking with firewood. Cooking gas according to her is cleaner, saves Ghana’s forests and saves the lives of mostly women and children.
That was Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana. Together with Gina McCarthy, she featured in the opening panel of the Cookstoves Future Summit recently concluded in New York. The summit was organised by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to call world leaders to action in expanding access to clean cooking energy.
In Nigeria we lose 3% of our forests every year to deforestation. Seven out of every ten Nigerian households use wood for cooking. Cutting down trees for cooking is a major contributor to deforestation. According to the WHO, 95,300 Nigerians are also killed annually by smoke from the kitchen. Unlike Ghana, less than 5% of households in our country use cooking gas.
In a crucial paradox, Ghana imports its cooking gas from Nigeria. We produce about 4 million tonnes of cooking gas. Only about six percent of this is used in the country. So we export a clean energy source and import dirty and deadly kerosene for our households. In the last year alone, we spent N230 billion in subsidies to sustain the dirty kerosene business.
Nothing has been as damaging to Nigeria’s environment as energy subsidies. Today, we have the capacity to take 20 million households off the dependence on traditional use of fire wood. Our forests will have a new lease of life, and our women and children will breathe better. In fact, after malaria and HIV/AIDS, smoke from the kitchen is the worst killer of women and children in Nigeria. If we achieve this, we will have millions of tonnes of black carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide saved. That will be a bonus; and easily Nigeria’s most important contribution to global efforts to combat global warming.
Petrol subsidies – the father of all subsidies cost Nigeria over half a trillion Naira annually – depending on who you ask. Beyond enriching a powerful cabal, petrol subsidies fuel an uncontrollable level of transport emissions. Nearly 20% of total Nigerian CO2 emissions come from the transport sector. Low fuel prices sustain low efficient vehicle engines and reward private cars as against mass transport services. Our transport-related greenhouse gas emissions are rising as fast as respiratory diseases in several cities.
Just one more point. Until very recently, heavily regulated prices for gas had created a disincentive for flaring. It was more economical for oil companies to burn associated gas rather than supply them to power stations. As a result, Nigeria kept winning a silver medal in gas flaring, after Russia. Our pricing policy ensured that power plants did not have adequate supply of gas and created Africa’s single largest source of emissions of greenhouse gases.
But subsidies are holy Indian cows in Nigeria. You can’t touch them – at least not without a bruise. There is a strong unholy alliance between the Nigerian “left” of social and human rights activists and the tiny community of environmentalists. The result is that we keep scoring own goals – preventing shared prosperity and harming the Nigerian environment.
None of the main contending political parties are going into this election with a promise to end these horrible energy subsidies. I will be out of my mind to believe otherwise. However, this doesn’t change the fact that energy subsidies as currently practiced in Nigeria harm the poor and destroy the Nigerian and global environment.
As the election approaches, it is therefore important to pause and reflect on the role of subsidies in promoting sustainable development in Nigeria. Can we step out of our ideological bunkers and acknowledge that energy subsidies are not progressive social, economic or environmental policies? Can we swallow this bitter pill? Can we follow Ghana’s example?
Eleri is the Director, International Centre for Energy, Environment & Development