Issues around climate change took the centre stage recently in Nigeria when the EU Delegation to Nigeria and to the ECOWAS organised a virtual Climate Diplomacy Outreach that brought together the key Nigerian stakeholders and EU partners. The event focused on Nigeria’s and Europe’s climate action ambitions and the way forward, especially in the light of the upcoming COP-26. The live event, which attracted approximately 1500 participants, also went viral on social media.

In the spirit of Team Europe, the event was organised in close cooperation with the European External Action Service, European Commission and the EU Member States.

In attendance at the virtual meeting included the Chargé d'Affaires a. i. of the Delegation, Mr Alexandre Borges Gomes; EU Ambassador for Climate Diplomacy, Mr Marc Vanheukelen; Director General for Energy, European Commission, Ms Ditte Juul-Joergensen; COP26 Regional Ambassador for the Middle East and Africa, United Kingdom, Ms Janet Rogan; Director, Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Nigeria, Ms Halima Bawa; Chairman, Climate Parliament Group, Nigeria, Hon. Samuel Onuigbo; Executive Director, Climate Parliament, Dr Sergio Missana; and Climate Envoy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr Marcel Beukeboom to mention a few.

The event centred on the following:

• The roles of the European Union, its Member States and of Nigeria in curbing climate change, as well as opportunities to mobilise private and public capital and expertise in responding to this challenge.
• The climate change-conflict nexus and the role of good governance in addressing the impact at the grassroots level.
• The experiences and innovative approaches toward a just Green Transition in Nigeria and Europe.
• The EU cooperation programmes in support of the green transition and post-COVID-19 recovery.

This very successful event was in two parts: a Plenary Session, followed by Thematic Break-out Sessions; here participants were able to choose between two sessions: the Climate Change session “Meeting Nigeria’s NDC and addressing current environmental challenges in the short term”, and the Energy Session “Decarbonizing the Economy to meet both Nigeria’s NDC and SDG7 target”. Both sessions ran concurrently.