Bridging the Climate Finance Gap: Designing a Legal Framework for Carbon Market in Nigeria

Nigeria suffers a climate finance gap of approximately USD 20.5 billion per annum. To close this gap, this project recommends that Nigeria explores the carbon market, specifically, the design of a cap-and-trade program. Against this backdrop, this project examines the California cap-and-trade program from a comparative transplant standpoint and it identified critical design lessons for Nigeria.\nA refrain so quietly insistent in the project is that the success of a carbon market rests on a sound legal framework owing to the fact that carbon markets are polycentric in nature, requiring actors and many moving parts that can only be held together by sound regulations. This also comports with the experience of California in designing and operationalizing its cap-and-trade program.\nWhile this project recognizes the potential impact of a carbon market in mobilizing climate finance it restates that market mechanisms thrive when used in concert with other measures.