In comparison to the rate of the Earth's naturally occurring climatic fluctuations throughout time, the world's climate is still changing quickly. The direct result is an increase in the temperature of the atmosphere and seas, which has a number of higher-level effects including sea level rise, extreme weather events, and changes in rainfall patterns, all of which have a negative influence on ecosystem quality and human health.
Greenhouse Gases
The primary factor and the sole climate forcing agent now taken into account by Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) approaches is the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which raise radiative forcing. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and ozone in the lower atmosphere are the principal greenhouse gases whose levels are growing. The radiation that the planet emits may be captured by greenhouse gases, preventing it from escaping back into space. Minimal heat may get back to space because greenhouse gases keep temperatures at elevated amounts in the lower atmosphere. CO2 is the most often released greenhouse gas and many methods to extract CO2 have been reported.
According to Carbon Brief, carbon dioxide accounted for 61.74 percent of Nigeria's total GHG emissions in 2016 (481.02 MtCO2e), followed by methane at 27.82 percent, nitrous oxide at 7.77 percent, and fluorinated gas at 2.66 percent. The report also reveals that, Nigeria's emissions of greenhouse gases in 2015 were classified as the 17th highest in the world and the second highest in Africa, after South Africa. This is mostly due to the nation's reliance on fossil fuels for economic growth. According to researchers, factors including population expansion, deforestation, and economic growth are to blame for this rise in GHG emissions.
Sources Of Greenhouse Gases
Globally, power and energy, agriculture, transportation, forestry, and industry are the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. 72% of all emissions are caused by the generation of energy of all kinds. About 76 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are made up of CO2. Methane, which is mostly produced by agriculture, accounts for 16% of greenhouse gas emissions, while nitrous oxide, which is mainly produced by industry and agriculture, accounts for 6% of total emissions. No nation is safe from the effects of climate change, not even rich nations like Nigeria. Nigeria, however, is still lagging far behind in the battle to address climate change while the majority of countries, notably industrialized countries, have joined it.
Electricity Production: In certain places in Nigeria, where there is little to no power, it cannot be argued that electricity generation is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions. Supplying enough electricity to citizens has been a problem for the power industry in the past, but things have gotten worse since the Nigerian government privatised it in 2013. Nigerians are compelled to utilise alternative types of energy, which are frequently unclean and increase the quantity of greenhouse gases released into the environment, in order to fulfil their domestic and commercial demands. Few people can afford clean, renewable energy sources like solar inverters. As a result, practically every house and company has a fuel-powered generator. Nigerians are forced to use wood and charcoal as a less expensive fuel alternative for cooking as a result of a lack of power and a steady increase in the price of cooking gas.
Transportation: The primary source of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions is the combustion of fossil fuels in our automobiles, trucks, ships, trains, and airplanes. Road transportation accounts for almost 90% of all domestic freight and passenger traffic in Nigeria, making it the sector that contributes the most to the country's GDP out of all the subsectors. This involves using internal combustion engines (ICEs) excessively, which contributes significantly to CO2 emissions through the burning of petroleum-based goods. The nation's carbon footprint has also been significantly impacted by the technique used to produce transportation fuels. A significant contributor to Nigeria's methane and CO2 emissions is the gas venting and gas flaring that occurs during the manufacture of these transportation fuels by the oil and gas industry.
Industry: Industry generates greenhouse gasses mostly from fossil fuel combustion for energy as well as from specific chemical processes required to make items from raw resources.
Agriculture: Food production emits greenhouse gases into the environment at every phase. Particularly in agriculture, large volumes of the potent greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane are released. Livestock create methane during digestion as a result of enteric fermentation, which is then expelled by belching. Additionally, it may escape from landfills' organic waste and manure storage. Organic and mineral nitrogen fertilisers produce nitrous oxide emissions in an indirect manner.
Summary
By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions must be 49% lower than they were in 1990, and they must be reduced by 95% by 2050, according to the Climate Act. According to USEPA, cutting back on the use of fossil fuels is the most efficient strategy to lower CO2 emissions. Numerous methods for lowering CO2 emissions from energy use are universal and apply to buildings, enterprises, industries, and transportation. It encompasses: lowering livestock methane emissions through enhancing manure processing; Storing carbon in plants and soil through experimental programmes for climate-friendly land use; funding for research towards developing hydrogen and other renewable fuels. It is hoped that the nation's present high GHG emissions would trend downward in the upcoming years thanks to its existing commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.
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