Climate Transition, Decarbonization Framework and Energy Sustainability in Ecowas Region

Specifically, the opportunity to cap global warming at 1.5OC is rapidly escaping. Although West African countries and companies across various industries are increasingly addressing this challenge as well as adopting measures to calculate and reduce their carbon footprint; they still face fundamental barriers. These include high upfront costs, technological limitations, regulatory uncertainty, fragmented constraints, unskilled work force, insufficient infrastructure, limited financial access and resistance to change. Therefore, breaking the barriers to buy-in, business case, carbon calculation and mitigation across value chains and green business growth is critical for ECOWAS companies seeking to reach net zero objectives. However, as more efforts are required to reach net zero; public-private collaboration is pivotal in overcoming key barriers as well as providing the condition and signals for businesses to advance their climate actions in West African region. Again, as a technical adjustment, transitioning toward strengthened risk governance in the energy sector through risk informed approach will mark a shift in priorities and decision making in ECOWAS. Yet, with targeted efforts to overcome policy, financial and technical barriers; Nature – Based solutions (NBS) can be transformative in protecting regional natural resources, reducing disaster risk as well as building climate resilience in the region. Similarly, an operational West African Carbon Markets can be a pivotal development pillar that can unlock much needed climate finance across the sub-continent. Consequently, this paper recommended that nations can create a legacy of positive impact for generations to come as well as climate resilient economies. However, international support that is tailored to country-specific requirements must be reinforced to direct sufficient financing to West African countries (ECOWAS).