Abstract: The current energy transition differs significantly from previous transitions as it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, principally CO2, and short-lived climate pollutants, dominated by Methane gas, in order to arrest the rising global temperature that is causing the extreme global warming and weather conditions. These extreme climatic conditions are the cause of the rising sea levels, and extreme weather events like floods, droughts, and brushfires, and of course, debilitating health consequences, food insecurity, human migration from devastated environment to political consequences and civil unrest as witnessed in Nigeria between the cattle herdsmen and the indigenous farmers in the middle belt states of Benue and Plateau. The transition is guided by Articles 2.1 and 4.1 of the Paris Agreement; Article 2.1 targets to keep the global average temperature well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C, while Article 4.1 seeks to attain Net Zero Emissions and Decarbonization in the second half the century. The main pathway to achieving these objectives is shift away from fossil fuel to a cleaner renewable source, such as solar and wind, and this will require innovative technologies that are heavily dependent on solid minerals, and rare earth metals. These materials, like oil and gas in the fossil fuel dominated economy, will eventually become the new global commodity as renewable technologies replace fossil fuel in the energy mix. And to efficiently manage this global trade, there are already discussions on a possible Organization of Minerals Exporting Countries, (OMEC) like Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). While Nigeria is endowed with vast solid minerals resources and some of these rare earth metals, its strategic solids minerals development plans, unfortunately lag other sub-Saharan African countries to strategically position itself in the coming global market that will be regulated by OMEC when it becomes operational. The paper therefore recommends that the Federal Government in collaboration with States, and other Global Stakeholders, seriously review the current solids minerals development plans to take advantage of the new business that will drive the global renewable energy technologies.
Keywords: Energy Transition, Paris Agreement, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Net Zero Emissions, Decarbonization, Organization of Minerals Exporting Countries.
Title: The Current Energy Transition and the economies of Mineral Energy Materials (MEM) Exporting Countries: A Case for Nigeria
Author: Dr. Amieyeofori Valentine Felix, Ph.D
International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations
ISSN 2348-7585 (Online)
Research Publish Journals
