NIGERIA is set to benefit from a new $100 million global methane investment announced by billionaire philanthropist and former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
The initiative aims to strengthen the collection of methane monitoring data through a global satellite network and support countries’ efforts to curb emissions of the potent greenhouse gas.
According to a Reuters report, the funding will assist nine countries—including Nigeria, Australia, Indonesia, and Mexico—as well as U.S. states like California and New Mexico, in implementing stronger methane reduction policies.
The initiative is part of ongoing global efforts to accelerate climate action and reduce methane leaks, which scientists identify as a critical factor in combating global warming.
“Ten years after the Paris Agreement, we now have the technology and momentum to act decisively against coal and methane—the key frontlines in the fight against climate change,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, who expressed his support for the project.
The investment comes as world leaders gather in Belem, Brazil, ahead of the upcoming COP30 climate summit.
The conference, which marks three decades of global climate negotiations, will bring together more than 50 heads of state and over 40 regional leaders to push for renewed commitments toward cutting emissions and financing solutions for climate impacts.
Despite the progress made since the 2015 Paris Agreement, experts warn that global efforts remain off track.
One major initiative—the COP26 pledge to cut global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030—has seen limited results, with methane levels continuing to rise since the 2021 U.N. summit in Glasgow.
Notably absent from the Belem talks are the leaders of four of the world’s top five emitters—China, the United States, India, and Russia—leaving the European Union as the only major bloc represented at the highest level.
Analysts, however, suggest that this could open space for more balanced, multilateral discussions.
Pedro Abramovay, Vice President of Programs at the Open Society Foundations and a former Brazilian justice minister, noted that the absence of the U.S. might enable more inclusive dialogue among nations.
He lauded Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s outreach to leaders from Africa, Asia, and Europe, saying it reflects a new, bottom-up approach to global cooperation on climate action.
As countries prepare for COP30, the Bloomberg-funded initiative signals a renewed global focus on addressing methane emissions—one of the most urgent and solvable challenges in the climate crisis—with Nigeria positioned among its key beneficiaries.