The Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Simon Ortuanya, has projected that with the establishment of the nation’s carbon market now, Nigeria could attract $2.5 billion in high-integrity carbon credit investments by 2030.
The university don made this projection at a Stakeholders’ Validation Workshop on the ‘Potential and Challenges of the Voluntary Carbon Market in Nigeria’ organised by the Resources and Environmental Policy Research Centre, Environment for Development (REPRC-EfD) of his university on Thursday in Abuja.
Ortuanya, who was represented by Director of REPRC-EfD, Prof. Nnaemeka Chukwuone, noted that carbon markets which are grouped into Compliance Carbon Markets (CCM) and Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM), especially those enabled by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to trade carbon credits, remained key to a low-carbon economy.
According to him, while the VCM encompasses all transactions of carbon offsets not purchased under a regulated carbon market, CCM are marketplaces through which regulated entities obtain offsets under regulatory regimes.
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He clarified: “Although the compliance market remains hypothetical in Africa, the VCM has existed for over two decades and has shown remarkable growth since its inception, primarily driven by the private sector.
“Globally, the VCM is valued at 2 billion dollars in 2022. Analysts place Africa’s potential VCM value at up to 1.5 trillion dollars by 2050, provided integrity and equity are safeguarded.
“Meanwhile, with the carbon market now in place, Nigeria is positioning itself to capture a sizeable share of about 2.5 billion dollars in high-integrity carbon credit investment by 2030, aligned with article six”, the Vice Chancellor added.
Despite the markets’ immense benefits for Nigeria, Ortuanya cautioned that poor implementation could lead to carbon leakage and adverse effects on vulnerable communities and canvassed the need for strong governance systems to prevent negative distributional impacts.
While describing the workshop as an opportunity to validate findings on Nigeria’s carbon market potential and challenges, he explained that forum will examine issues including regulation, measurement, reporting, verification and community participation and by so doing, “help develop actionable strategies balancing environmental integrity and equitable benefits.”
Ortuanya said UNN, through its research centre, had capacity to provide evidence-based policy guidance and thanked development partners and stakeholders for supporting the research in its carbon markets over the past year.
He told participants at the workshop that significant progress had been made by the centre since the study began over a year ago, now in the current validation stage
He expatiated: “Nigeria lacked a carbon market framework at the inception stage, but now has one, following sustained engagement with stakeholders and support from relevant authorities.
“Efforts are ongoing to strengthen implementation through capacity building, project registration and development of monitoring systems, with over 120 carbon projects already registered as of December 2025.
“Carbon market participation could reduce emissions, generate revenue, empower communities and support poverty reduction, while similar initiatives are gaining traction in countries such as Ghana and Kenya”, Ortuonye added.
Noting that investor confidence and interest in carbon market opportunities are now high nationwide, the university don commended the National Council on Climate Change for facilitating the framework and other stakeholders for their support during the exercise.
