NIGERIAN GREEN GOVERNORS SIGN CLIMATE CHANGE

UNCLAS LAGOS 000377 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/EPS, AF/W, AND EEB/ESC DAS HENGEL STATE PASS TO USTDA-PAUL MARTIN, EXIM-JRICHTER AND KJACKSON STATE PASS TO USTR-AGAMA STATE PASS TO OPIC TREASURY FOR IERONIMO AND BARCAN DOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/BURRESS AND 3130/USFC/OIO/ANESA/REED E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SENV ENRG PREL PGOV NI SUBJECT: NIGERIAN GREEN GOVERNORS SIGN CLIMATE CHANGE DECLARATION ¶1. (U) Governors Babtunde Fashola and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Lagos and Delta states, respectively, have agreed with global counterparts to work together to promote clean transportation, support national climate change legislation, include forests in climate policy development, and recognize the role of sub-national governments in global climate agreement talks set for Copenhagen in December. Their declaration came at the second Governors' Global Climate Summit, held September 30-October 2 in Los Angeles. Senior staff from the offices of the two state governors have confirmed their participation. ¶2. (SBU) In Lagos, there are several real or prospective projects that address the climate change issue. First and foremost are power projects that are slated to use natural gas and municipal waste. These power plants will be based near industrial clusters so as to be able to wire directly into the businesses operations. Lagos is considering a light rail project in which GE technology was chosen. In Delta state, the governor wants multinational oil companies operating there to use more environmentally-friendly technologies. Elsewhere, there is a movement in the telecom industry to consider solar and wind power to provide electricity to their many towers throughout Nigeria. Current legislation makes it difficult to install wind power generators, since only the turbine itself is considered "green" technology, and only the turbine is thereby given preferential tax treatment. ¶3. (SBU) The United States Trade Development Agency is studying the feasibility of energy efficient cell towers. Motorola has already had some success in rural Nigeria partnering with cell tower owner and operator IHS. Infrastructure is the key to combating climate change in Nigeria from a working electrical grid to offload solar, wind, and other types of electricity to roads that can handle express buses and light rail. WALSH