The Nigerian government has pledged to end the burning of gas as a by-product of oil production by 2030, under its latest climate plan submitted to the UN.
Fossil fuel companies’ gas flaring account for a huge part of Nigeria’s emissions.
At 75 million tonnes of Co2 equivalent a year, they outstrip the emissions from all 200 million Nigerians’ use of transport or electricity.
As gas flaring has been linked to health problems, communities in oil and gas producing regions like the Niger Delta have long campaigned against it.
Successive governments have promised to end the practice. They have made some progress.
Nigeria reduced flaring by 70% between 2000 and 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, as a result of tougher penalties and incentives to capture and sell the gas.
But a national ban on flaring has loopholes, and penalties are low and weakly enforced. International oil majors report slow progress in eliminating wasteful flaring, for example Shell still flares more than 1m tonnes of gas a year worldwide.
While significant progress has been made, the flaring which remains is the hardest to stop, Banks said, as it often takes places in the most remote areas.
As well as flaring, oil and gas companies emit methane in the production process, both deliberately and accidentally.
