Climate Change Act, 2021

The Act provides the legal framework for climate action through the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC). It requires a National Climate Change Action Plan and a five-year carbon budget with quantified annual objectives, and requires private entities with 50 or more employees to put in place measures to achieve annual emission reduction targets and to designate a climate change officer.

According to Nigeria's first Biennial Transparency Report to the UNFCCC, the NCCC was established in 2022 under the Act and its secretariat is the regulatory entity responsible for enforcing compliance; the report notes that the Council was still in its operationalisation phase and that a mechanism for carbon emission trading was under development. In 2025 the NCCC issued a Nigerian Carbon Market Activation Policy under the Act's framework, covering Article 6 participation, a national carbon registry and envisaged domestic compliance instruments.