The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to ensuring greenhouse gas emission reduction to net zero in the country.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mr Hassan Musa, expressed the commitment at the 16th meeting of the National Council on Environment, organised by the ministry in Abuja on Tuesday.

Musa said that the theme of the meeting, “Pursuit of Zero Emission; a New Trajectory Toward Global Environment Renaissance”, was chosen to reflect the reality of what seemed to be an unnecessary hype by a layman, yet with fundamental consequences already routing the communities.

According to him, this has necessitated a wake-up call for action and conscientious efforts toward pursuing a systematic and continuous reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
“This pursuit will continue until a possible achievement of a net zero emission in the world is achieved.

“Evidenced by the extreme weather conditions which have increased natural disasters such as heat wave, flooding, desert encroachment loss of forest, among others.

“This pursuit is a noble choice, and the government is not only fully committed to the ideals of good governance but very mindful of achieving the goals of environmental sustainability,” he said.

Musa said that there was a global consensus that climate change increased the frequency and the intensity of extreme weather and climate-affected habitants.

He said that reliance on climate-sensitive natural resources and development gaps were at the greatest risk of climate hazards.

“It is well established that if left unattended, climate hazards will increase poverty, exacerbate food insecurity, cause health problems, amongst others,” he said.

The permanent secretary said that the 2030 agenda for sustainable development was a testimony to the global commitment to building climate change resilience.

He said that efforts had been made to ensure that the environment was preserved and resilient resources were built for sustainable development.

“It is for this purpose that this gathering is of immense significance.

“We are poised to expand the landscape of reasoning and generated policy frameworks capable of confronting these emerging menace frontally,” he said.

He urged all the stakeholders to use the opportunity to jointly address the issues through the submitted memoranda and other matters that may arise in the course of the meeting.

He said the meeting would offer a healthy strategy to protect the environment for economic development.