.…….. Plans to plant 5m trees in 5 years
The Seplat Energy Limited has commenced its `Tree 4 Life Initiative’, programme, which involves a commitment to embark on planting five million trees in five years to mitigate climate change and carbon emission.
At the flag-off ceremony yesterday in Abuja, the company said the innovative tree planting and carbon sequestration programme would provide food security, reduce biodiversity loss and support the net-zero emission agenda.
Minister of state, petroleum resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva led the top officials from the energy sector, including chairman of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd, Senator Margery Okadigbo, who witnessed the flagging-off ceremony in Abuja.
Others are Dr. Ambrose Orjiako, chairman Seplat, Mr Abdurazak Isa, chairman, Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), officials from the ministries of environment and agriculture and rural development and other dignitaries.
Seplat managing director, Mr. Roger Brown, disclosed that the tree planting initiative, which has 75% as economic trees, would essentially start with five states to include Edo, Delta, Imo and two Northern states in the country.
“We will deliberately engage women, youth and communities for sustainable food production and a sustainable environment through tree planting in their communities and mindset change.
“We have adopted a two-prong approach to advocate for tree planting and protection to instill the consciousness of the importance of tree planting and the responsibility of citizens to ensure its success.
“Another approach is to Plant Trees, run afforestation/restoration programmes with a commitment to plant one million trees annually, comprising majorly economic trees. This initiative will complement the efforts of the federal government and other stakeholders.
“As a result, we will together positively impact lives while driving socio-economic change,’’ he said.
Rogers recalled that at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 26, President Muhammadu Buhari and more than 100 world leaders committed to ending and reversing deforestation by 2030.
Also, during COP26, Nigeria committed to achieving net-zero by 2060. Barely a week after the conference, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Climate Change Act, 2021 (the Act), which the National Assembly passed in 2021.
In the wake of climate action and the drive for energy transition, the industry has the responsibility of evolving to continue providing energy to keep the world running in a sustainable manner, the Seplat boss said.
In order to live up to the challenge, substantial resources were geared towards achieving sustainability by Seplat Energy by working to decarbonise the upstream operations and develop renewable energy capability.
In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produced its First Assessment Report with three major conclusions, including that global temperatures had risen by 0.3-0.6C over the last century; that humanity’s emissions were adding to the atmosphere’s natural complement of greenhouse gases, and that addition would be expected to result in warming.
In his comments, Seplat chairman, Dr. ABC Orjiako pointed out that the February 2022 report showed that climate change impacts were already widespread and more severe to adapt to than expected, thereby stressing the urgency for action on climate change.
In the report published in January 2020 by Mckinsey, the oil and gas industry, directly or indirectly, accounts for 42% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Report further posited that if the world is to meet its climate-change goals, the industry has a major role to play, as the industry’s operations account for nine percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
It posited further that, it produces the fuels that create another 33% of global emissions. In the light of the above, Orjiako said the Seplat Energy initiated a number of decarbonisation projects, to ensure a significant reduction in the company’s carbon footprint, as an energy firm
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