Experts have urged the Nigerian e-commerce industry to use eco-friendly materials in its packaging and logistics of products to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment.
The experts made this known at a sensitisation workshop on Greening E-commerce orgainsed by the Pan African E-commerce Initiative (PECI)– an initiative of the German Development Agency (GIZ) in partnership with Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST).
The experts stressed the importance of e-commerce operators in Nigeria committing to concrete climate actions and sustainable operations.
Nnaemeka Ngwu, director of the public sector initiative and a professor at Lagos Business School, urged e-commerce companies to quickly adopt sustainable green technology to minimize their environmental harm.
“E-commerce is a business enabler and a platform through which many people can get involved in trade and commerce. However, e-commerce also brings lots of issues in sustainability and climate change because of pollution,” he said.
According to him, to improve the sustainability component of e-commerce, the country must promote better packaging and logistics among operators.
“We need to green the ecommerce industry to make it more inclusive and support the climate so that it does not cause risks and issues,” he explained.
He commended the Lagos State government on the ban on single-use plastics, calling for the policy to be complemented with awareness, advocacy, and engagement so that the public understands the reason for the policy.
He noted that such awareness should be done regularly, while urging the Nigerian Postal Service to use its leadership role in the courier industry to engage other courier businesses within the space on the benefits of sustainability and the packaging and logistics issues.
In her opening remarks, Titi Oshodi, special adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, called for awareness on greening across various sectors of governance, communities and the private sector
“This will ensure that people understand the rationale behind the policies on greening and they also understand what the alternatives are,” she noted.
“This is the reason why climate literacy is a front-boner strategy for us in Lagos State,” she added.
She explained that Lagos is a commercial hub that grew its GDP due to the operations of micro, small and medium-size businesses. “We need to have them empowered, more knowledgeable about sustainability practices.”
Tola Odeyemi, postmaster-general, Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST), said the courier can play a strategic and vital role in greening the ecosystem, noting that it has 1,174 post offices nationwide.
Odeyemi, who was represented by Ernest Mamood, general-manager of EMS Parcel Nigeria, said NIPOST is a regulator in the country’s courier industry and can use its position to sensitize other operators in the industry on the use of eco-friendly materials in packaging and logistics to cut environmental impact.
“We can move from our fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles or CNG and solar-powered systems in our post offices to power our operations. This will assist the ecosystem.”
Also, Akinropo Omoware, head component, BEE, SI &Investment, GIZ-SEDIN said e-commerce is transforming the way we do business, buy and sell, noting that these activities come with some environmental issues.
He said there must be collaboration to address the environmental issues “from the government side to the private sector and even creating awareness of what we need to do so that together we are able to work together to bring in products that make it more sustainable to everyone.”
