Nigeria’s bid to reduce carbon emissions has received a boost as PanAfrican cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement Plc, entered into partnership with the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and National Environmental Standards and the Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to promote environmental sustainability.
Similarly, Dangote Cement is also collaborating with the Lagos Business School Sustainability Centre, and Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) as part of the Company’s initiatives to mark the 2022 World Environment Day in all its 14 production plants in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
Dangote Cement’s Environment Week programme supports African countries and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) Joint Venture (JV) agreement to invest in carbon avoidance and offsetting projects.
In carrying out the initiatives, Dangote Cement has engaged experts to build the capacity of employees, local communities and other stakeholders on biodiversit conservation and progressive reclamation of mining sites.
The Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement Plc, Mr
Michel Puchercos noted that the company demonstrated support to governments’ efforts by contributing climate solutions that would reduce Nigeria’s carbon emissions.
The World Environment Day which featured a web forum entitled ‘Only one Earth: Conserving the Values of Biodiversity’, also centered on the need for humans to make deliberate efforts to save the earth by conserving biodiversity. The forum brought together about 560 participants from the manufacturing and extractive industries, academia, government agencies, international agencies, civil society (NGOs), media, and environment enthusiasts.
The Head of Sustainability, Dangote Cement Plc, Dr
Igazeuma Okoroba stated that the organisation is complementing government efforts through collaboration with stakeholders in civil society and industry.
She noted that as Africa’s leading business, the “World Environment Day commemoration avails us the opportunity to create awareness on sustainability initiatives to conserve the earth and maintain the values of biodiversity.”
According to Dr Okoroba, the initiatives were “aimed at entrenching sustainability consciousness across the
business’ value chain.
Speaking on World Environment Day, the Head of Environment and Social Performance, Dangote Cement plc, Engr Tukur Lawal said the objective of the initiative was to make mining sites safe for current and future land use. Specific goals include creating awareness amongst mining personnel,
enabling mining stakeholders to understand the processes
of identifying and evaluating species, flora and fauna for
climate risk management.
In line with this year’s theme ‘Only One Earth’, not less than 1,708 Dangote employees volunteered with 1,186 thirdparty volunteers who contributed 12,658 hours in 46 different initiatives across 10 Pan-African countries.
The World Environment Day also featured a web forum on
“Only One Earth: Conserving the Values of Biodiversity”, which
was hosted by Dangote Cementin collaboration with the Lagos Business School