By:ThinkBusiness Africa
Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu has officially approved the implementation and operationalization of Nigeria’s National Carbon Market Framework (NCMF). The landmark policy aims to generate $3 billion in annual revenue by 2030, positioning Nigeria as the premier destination for carbon finance in Africa.
The framework marks a shift from experimental green projects to a market-regulated industry designed to monetize verified emissions reductions across the energy, industrial, and agricultural sectors.
Tenioye Majekodunmi, Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), outlines a strategy to harness Nigeria’s vast potential for carbon credit generation. By trading emission allowances on the global stage, Nigeria plans to create a “green wall of finance” to support its transition to a low-carbon economy.
“Operationalizing this framework is a signal that carbon markets are no longer peripheral to our economy; they are central to our strategy for attracting foreign capital and supporting the energy transition,” Majekodunmi told reporters.
Majekodunmi, outlined the key mechanisms that will now go into effect:
- National Carbon Registry: A digital ledger to track every ton of carbon reduced or removed, ensuring “high-integrity” credits that prevent double-counting.
- Tax & Fiscal Incentives: To lure private investors, the government has approved 10-year tax exemptions on revenue generated from carbon credits and accelerated capital allowances for green assets.
- Climate Change Fund: This fund has been reinstated into the national budget to serve as the primary vehicle for deploying climate finance into local communities.
- Article 6 Integration: The framework aligns with the Paris Agreement’s Article 6, allowing Nigeria to engage in sovereign-to-sovereign carbon trading.
The timing is strategic. With COP30 approaching in Brazil, Nigeria is signaling to the world that it is “investment-ready.” The country already has over 57 registered voluntary carbon projects, but the new framework provides the legal and regulatory “teeth” needed to scale these from pilot programs to national-level industries.
Nigeria is currently facing a 350,000-hectare annual loss of land to desertification in the North and rising sea levels in Lagos. The government is essentially trying to “monetize” the solution to these crises—using carbon credits to fund the very projects that prevent this environmental decay.
In the continent, the African Carbon Market Initiative (ACMI), aims to produce 300 million carbon credits annually across the continent by 2030. By having a fully operational framework by early 2026, Nigeria is setting the pace for other African nations, effectively transforming the “threat” of climate change into a multi-billion dollar opportunity for job creation and infrastructure development.
Experts suggest that if successfully implemented, this could create up to 2.3 million green jobs by the end of the decade, particularly in rural areas where reforestation and sustainable farming projects are most viable.
