Catriona Laing, Ex-UK High Commissioner, to Speak at Nigeria Climate Investment Summit in London

The list of high-profile speakers confirmed to participate in the Nigeria Climate Investment Summit (NCIS) London is increasingly matching the anticipation of stakeholders from around the world. Former United Kingdom High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, is the latest high-profile speaker to be announced by the organisers of the much-talked-about Summit. The high-ranking career diplomat, said to be currently the most senior and experienced bureaucrat on African affairs in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), served as the High Commissioner in Abuja between 2018 and 2023. She had previously served in Zimbabwe, among other critical posts in Africa. Her extensive experience and dignified clout in Nigeria-UK bilateral relations, the organisers say, will help to achieve the objectives of the Summit.

A statement by GLOBE Legislators and SOStainability, conveners of NCIS London, said the growing interest in the summit, designed as a major programme of the London Climate Action Week (LCAW), confirms Nigeria’s rising profile as a destination of choice for green global investments. The Summit will provide a structured platform to present Nigeria’s climate policy progression, highlight investable transition opportunities, and showcase institutional ESG performance before a key global audience in London, the epicentre of climate finance.

The NCIS will explore investment pathways into numerous renewable energy and transition opportunities in Nigeria, given recent policy initiatives like the launch of the National Carbon Market Framework (NCMF), Phase 3 of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), activation of the Climate Action Plan, and unbundling of the electricity sector through the Electricity Act 2023.

The Summit will reaffirm, with demonstrable evidence, Nigeria’s position as the destination of choice for climate finance, green investments, and delivery of SDG 7 on energy access; broker deals and initiate twinning opportunities for investment uptake and sustainable, productive partnerships around energy access, renewables, and transition projects; support engagement by leading Nigerian lawmakers and subnational leaders with global energy and climate diplomacy, ahead of COP 31 in Antalya, Turkey; and offer policy recommendations and clear implementation pathways, including through Nigeria’s NDC on advancing climate action with intergovernmental and policy partners.