Talking climate finance across Nigeria

At the end of May, the UKNIAF project convened a roundtable event with Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum to discuss the realities and challenges of state access to climate finance. The event welcomed Commissioners and Deputy Governors from 15 states, representing all of Nigeria’s diverse landscape.

Nigeria’s states are at the forefront of taking credible climate action and are key to increasing the amount of climate finance that Nigeria receives. Currently only a small amount of global climate finance reaches Nigeria – in 2019/202 it received only $1.9bn, just a fraction of the estimated $17.7bn it actually needs.

The aim of the roundtable was to bring States together to share their experiences and identify what they can do to secure climate finance for their development needs. It was also a forum to discuss how climate finance can be aligned with development and investment priorities and not treated in isolation.

Tetra Tech Principal Consultant on Climate, Dan Yeo, guided the activities of the roundtable. He said UKNIAF is in a great position to help convene knowledge sharing

“Many States are already taking solid steps to incorporate climate change into their development priorities,” Dan explained. “Through this event, we hope to help States to share these experiences and identify practical steps that they can take to secure climate finance for their existing development priorities – and together help more climate finance reach Nigeria.”

The roundtable supported the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to strengthen its role as a climate finance hub to support states in this work. UKNIAF is continuing to support the Governors’ Forum to build out this role, including through potentially accessing finance themselves.