Nigeria grants provisional approval to its first Article 6 waste-to-energy project
By Article 6
Nigeria’s government has issued a letter of no-objection to the country’s first waste-to-energy project under Article 6, allowing it to move ahead as planned. Each plant is expected to cut emissions by about 200,000 tCO₂e a year. The approval extends Nigeria’s young Article 6 pipeline beyond clean cooking into infrastructure-scale waste and power projects.
The Nigerian government has issued a letter of no-objection (NOC) to the country’s first waste-to-energy project developed under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The letter lets the project proceed with its plans. Each plant is estimated to reduce emissions by around 200,000 tonnes of CO₂e a year, which points to a multi-plant programme. A no-objection letter is a provisional step. It is separate from a formal authorisation for international transfer with corresponding adjustments.
The approval comes as Nigeria’s carbon market architecture takes shape. The government approved its carbon market framework in October 2025. The Nigerian Carbon Market Activation Policy, launched in 2025, aims to mobilise US$2.5 billion by 2030 through creating and trading carbon credits. Under the policy, the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) Secretariat manages authorisation. The government oversees both bilateral transfers under Article 6.2 and participation in the Article 6.4 mechanism, and all projects and developers must register with the national registry.
Nigeria has recently started granting export approvals. In July 2026, the federal government approved the export of carbon credits from clean cooking projects for the first time, allowing a Kenyan firm and its partners to sell emission reductions internationally under Article 6.2. Separately, the NCCC is working with EfD Nigeria to develop Host Country Approval guidelines, the formal permission projects need to sell credits on international markets.
Signals to watch
- Diversification beyond clean cooking: Nigeria’s first Article 6 approvals were mainly for cookstoves. A waste-to-energy programme brings large-scale infrastructure, energy-security benefits and methane avoidance into the pipeline. This widens the range of ITMOs on offer to sovereign and compliance buyers.
- NOC is not yet an LoA: Investors should treat the no-objection letter as an early signal, not final approval. The main milestones still ahead are a formal letter of authorisation, the treatment of corresponding adjustments, a buyer country or offtaker, and listing on the UNFCCC Article 6 platforms. Project finance terms should reflect the remaining authorisation risk.
- Methodology and integrity questions: Waste-to-energy credits depend heavily on baselines, notably avoided landfill methane and displaced grid emissions, and on how waste composition and fossil-derived content are handled. Buyers will look closely at the methodology. Projects that follow PACM landfill gas and grid-electricity approaches may face less integrity scrutiny.
- Social licence: Incineration-based waste-to-energy has faced civil-society opposition in Nigeria. NGOs have publicly opposed a proposed waste-to-energy incinerator at Lagos’ Epe landfill. Developers should expect scrutiny of air quality, effects on informal waste pickers, and community consultation, all of which tie into Article 6 safeguards and sustainable development requirements.
- Readiness signal for Nigeria: Africa’s most populous country is moving from policy to project approvals across several sectors. How quickly and openly the NCCC moves projects from NOC to authorisation will decide whether Nigeria becomes a dependable ITMO supplier at the scale its US$2.5 billion target implies.
Sources:
- Leadership – Nigeria begins cross-border export with clean cooking credits
- EfD Initiative – EfD Nigeria partners with NCCC
- Climate Policy Radar – Nigerian Carbon Market Activation Policy
- IPEN – Nigeria NGOs stand against incineration
