President Bola Tinubu has urged the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and African Development Bank (AfDB) to significantly scale up financing for climate action in Africa.
Speaking through Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the Climate Summit during the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Tinubu said Nigeria is mobilising $20–25 billion in climate finance by 2030, using green bonds, blended finance, and public-private partnerships.
“For Nigeria, a country acutely vulnerable to climate impacts, climate action is not a choice; it is an existential necessity,” he said. Tinubu stressed that Nigeria aims to unlock at least $7–10 billion in grants and concessional finance from global partners while promoting technology transfer, regional energy integration, and green entrepreneurship.
He outlined key reforms already undertaken, including modernising tax laws, removing unproductive fossil fuel subsidies, and improving the ease of doing business to attract private capital for clean energy investments. Nigeria, he added, is strengthening its position in the global carbon market through the Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Policy launched in March 2025, which targets mobilising up to $2.5 billion in investments by 2030.
Tinubu also announced Nigeria’s submission of its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0) to the UNFCCC, which integrates stronger mitigation and adaptation targets. “This NDC departs from business-as-usual to an absolute economy-wide emission reduction, our highest ambition to date,” he said.
Nigeria’s commitments include reducing deforestation by 60 percent, expanding forest cover, scaling climate-smart agriculture to reach five million smallholder farms by 2030, and installing seven GW of cleaner captive generation split between renewable energy and natural gas. The country also aims to expand resilient infrastructure and restore ecosystems such as mangroves and wetlands.
“We are under no illusion: no country can tackle the climate crisis alone,” Tinubu said. “We therefore call on International Financial Institutions to scale up financing for climate action, and on developed countries to honour their $100 billion annual pledge under the Paris Agreement.”
Tinubu reaffirmed that climate action for Nigeria is a pathway to sustainable growth, innovation, security, and prosperity, declaring that “the time for climate action is now.”
