The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said it has kicked off the campaign for it’s Fly2Green Nigeria Initiative, which is designed to map out a decarbonization strategy for the Nigeria aviation industry.
The initiative is meant to domesticate the National Policy on Short-lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) and implement strategic partnerships with relevant Green, Blue and Circular Economy stakeholders to launch the first Clean Air-Blue Skies Advocacy.
NCAA is making this push, as it joined the global community to commemorate the third International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies tagged: “The Air We Share”, focused this year on the trans-boundary nature of air pollution and the need for collective accountability and action.
NCAA in a statement said collective action requires collaborative efforts from businesses, communities, civil society; academia, policymakers and government to advocate accelerate and activate climate-smart solutions for Net-Zero emission footprint.
Stressing on the impact of Air pollution, NCAA said it is both a climate impact and health impact issue that transcends and permeates national borders, posing risks to 99 per cent of the world’s population who now breathe polluted air and causing 7 million premature deaths each year.
According to the NCAA, Africa does not contribute more than 3 per cent of Greenhouse Gas emissions, yet the continent is warming faster than any other region in the world and is half ready to make the transition to carbon neutral economies.
It said the aviation sector has a huge role to play in reducing these effects as a top-ten global emitter whose emissions are expected to rise dramatically by mid-century especially with it being responsible for an estimated 4.9 per cent of global warming and its climate impact is not restricted to its CO2 emissions alone, more than half of aviation’s climate impact comes from non-CO2 pollutants.
Against this backdrop, NCAA is advocating for urgent multi-industry emissions reduction programs like International Civil Aviation Organization( ICAO’s) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) mechanism and the Fly2Green Nigeria Initiative .
