Green Metrics, Human Stakes: Ghanaian Climate Expert Issues Wake-Up Call in Abuja

Oluchi Chibuzor

“Greenhouse gas numbers don’t lie. But they do tell us who we’ve been ignoring.”, was a statement that reverberated far beyond the walls of the Nigeria Climate Change Forum held in Abuja on June 27–28, 2024 as he drew the attention.

The Forum served as a major milestone in Africa’s climate agenda—uniting diverse stakeholders around shared goals: clean energy transition, carbon management, policy enactment, and financing. It also spotlighted Nigeria’s leadership in integrating global climate commitments with domestic action.

Speaking with journalists virtually on the sidelines of the event, Ghanaian Petroleum engineer and ESG strategist Christopher Nkansah delivered a sobering assessment at the event.

The event gathered regional leaders, regulators, and technical experts to address persistent barriers to decarbonization across the subcontinent.

Nkansah, whose résumé spans technical fieldwork and international energy governance, did not shy away from confronting uncomfortable truths. Through a series of visual models and emissions analytics, he demonstrated how communities across the Niger Delta and other high-impact extraction zones consistently fall through the cracks in both climate financing and emissions reporting.

“Data shows us the methane—but more importantly, it shows us the margins,” Nkansah emphasized, pointing to recent aerial monitoring from Nigerian gas flaring sites and health indicators among local populations.

His presentation drew on his cross-border experience with Ghana’s methane roadmap and regulatory audits in the United States, offering a rare lens into how global best practices can—and must—be tailored to West Africa’s unique socio-ecological fabric.

Nkansah’s Abuja remarks were not merely technical. He called for a Just Transition model grounded in data transparency, community ownership, and ecological restitution. He commended Nigerian organizations piloting reforestation projects and biometric emissions tracking, but warned that “piecemeal efforts risk becoming PR exercises unless linked to long-term accountability frameworks.”

Colleagues at the workshop described Nkansah’s voice as both pragmatic and catalytic.

“He’s not just pushing climate data,” said one policy officer from Nigeria’s Ministry of Environment. “He’s pushing us to see who’s being left out of the equation.”

As conversations in Africa increasingly pivot from “climate awareness” to “climate infrastructure,” Nkansah’s contributions are resonating across borders. His proposed regional emissions audit model—which integrates community health metrics and flaring disclosures—is already under review by stakeholders in Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire.

For the West African energy transition to succeed, voices like Nkansah’s—technical, ethical, and unflinchingly human—are becoming indispensable.

The Nigeria Climate Change Forum is set to emerge as a premier annual gathering for the African region, drawing Ministries, Government Authorities, Chief Executives, senior decision-makers, industry leaders, and climate activists from various sectors. By fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange, the Forum aims to spearhead collective efforts towards achieving the region’s sustainability and decarbonization goals, marking a significant step forward in addressing the urgent climate crisis.