Lagos moves to turn transport data into carbon finance

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The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority and the Lagos State Office of Climate Change and Circular Economy are working on a framework to measure emissions from the state’s transport system, a move that could help Lagos quantify the climate benefits of its mass transit investments and access emerging carbon-financing opportunities.

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The collaboration was discussed when a delegation from the Office of Climate Change and Circular Economy, led by the Special Adviser to the Governor, Titilayo Oshodi, visited LAMATA’s headquarters.

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The engagement, which held recently, centred on establishing a reliable system for measuring transport-related emissions as Lagos expands electric mobility, rail transportation and other lower-emission mass transit options.

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The Managing Director of LAMATA, Engr Abimbola Akinajo, said credible emissions data would be essential to determining the environmental impact of the state’s transport investments and identifying further opportunities to cut carbon emissions.

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She said the authority’s growing portfolio of electric and low-emission public transport projects provided a platform for Lagos to pursue its climate objectives while improving mobility for millions of commuters.

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Akinajo said the transport sector could generate more than mobility benefits if Lagos developed the systems required to measure and verify its environmental gains.

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“Reliable data would be critical to measuring the environmental impact of transport investments, identifying further opportunities for emissions reduction and positioning Lagos to benefit from emerging global climate-financing mechanisms,” she said.

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The meeting also featured a demonstration of the DecarbonIQ Intelligence Platform, a technology platform developed to measure, monitor and manage carbon emissions across transport networks.

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The platform includes an emissions-reduction advisory function that can help transport authorities analyse their emissions and identify areas where carbon reductions could be achieved.

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It is also designed to provide a unified source of emissions data that can be tracked, validated and verified.

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A major focus of the demonstration was the platform’s connection with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which provides a framework for countries to cooperate in meeting climate targets, including through internationally transferable mitigation outcomes and carbon-market mechanisms.

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Oshodi stressed the need for Lagos to establish a verified single source of carbon data, particularly as the state commits more resources to electric mobility, rail and other low-carbon transport infrastructure.

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She identified transportation as a strategic sector in the state’s climate agenda, making reliable emissions data necessary for measuring the impact of ongoing investments.

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The engagement therefore moves the conversation around Lagos’ transport decarbonisation beyond the deployment of electric buses, rail infrastructure and other cleaner mobility options to the question of how the resulting environmental benefits can be measured and potentially converted into access to green finance.

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LAMATA said it was prepared to work with OCCE and other stakeholders on data-driven frameworks for sustainable transport and explore ways of combining technology, verified emissions data and infrastructure investment.

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The authority said such collaboration could strengthen Lagos’ ability to demonstrate the climate benefits of its mass transit projects improve access to climate finance and accelerate the development of a cleaner and more resilient urban transport system.

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