By Abbas Nazil
Nigeria is quietly positioning itself as a major player in the global carbon finance and carbon removal market, leveraging its vast natural resources, agricultural waste, and emerging policy frameworks to attract climate-linked investment flows.
The country’s carbon economy is gaining attention following the first verified large-scale carbon removal transaction involving Releaf Earth, a climate-tech startup that sold 190 tonnes of certified carbon removal credits to Salesforce through an international carbon platform in early 2026.
This milestone signals Nigeria’s entry into the premium segment of the global carbon market, where durable carbon removal credits such as biochar-based solutions command significantly higher prices than traditional offset credits.
Nigeria’s growing carbon market ambition is anchored on the National Carbon Market Framework approved in 2025, which establishes governance structures for carbon credit generation, approval, trading, and accounting under national climate commitments.
The framework also aligns with Nigeria’s updated emissions reduction target of 32 percent by 2035 and is designed to unlock between $2.5 billion and $3 billion annually in climate finance if fully implemented.
Officials expect the system to attract investment into sectors such as renewable energy, methane capture, forestry, sustainable agriculture, and waste-to-energy projects, while strengthening institutional capacity for carbon tracking and reporting.
A key part of the emerging ecosystem is Releaf Earth’s biochar production model, which converts agricultural waste from palm processing into stable carbon storage materials that can remain locked in soil for centuries while improving agricultural productivity.
The company reports that its pilot operations in Cross River State increased crop yields by up to 25 percent and could raise smallholder incomes by as much as 50 percent through improved productivity and carbon credit revenues.
Nigeria’s climate finance strategy is also supported by sovereign green bond issuances, which have grown from N10.69 billion in 2017 to a planned N1.5 trillion climate-linked debt instrument backed by international financial institutions.
Additional initiatives include a $2 billion National Climate Change Fund and a $500 million Climate Investment Platform aimed at scaling infrastructure and climate adaptation projects across the country.
Subnational actors such as Lagos State are also developing independent carbon trading platforms, including plans for a Lagos Carbon Exchange intended to position the state as a regional climate finance hub.
However, experts warn that regulatory gaps, weak monitoring systems, and the absence of fully established trading infrastructure could undermine credibility in global markets where carbon credits are strictly evaluated for transparency and integrity.
Concerns also remain around the release of operational guidelines for Nigeria’s carbon market, the establishment of independent oversight mechanisms, and the development of a strong pipeline of verified projects beyond pilot initiatives.
Despite these challenges, analysts note that Nigeria’s combination of abundant biomass resources, emerging regulatory frameworks, and early verified transactions positions it as a potential leader in Africa’s carbon economy if execution and governance are sustained.
