Achieving sustainable development in Africa 1 Clean technologies as mitigating strategies against the potential impacts of climate change in 21st century Nigeria M. Sanni*, A.A. Egbetokun, O.A. Jesuleye and W.O. Siyanbola National Centre for Technology Management, Nigeria E-mail: marufsanni@yahoo.com E-mail: aaegbetokun@gmail.com E-mail: olalekanjesuleye@yahoo.com E-mail: wsybola@yahoo.com *Corresponding author Abstract: Even though it is not yet certain how climate change will affect Nigeria, the recent changes in rainfall regime could be an indication of some of the challenges that we may face as we move into the 21st century. At present, the Nigerian economy is largely dependent on fossil fuel, which is one of the biggest contributors of CO 2 to the atmosphere. This paper discusses the potential impacts of climate change in Nigeria in the 21st century and how renewable energy can be harnessed to mitigate or adapt to its effects. Various obstacles to achieving sustainable renewable energy in terms of policy, technical and financial barriers are enumerated and the strategies that could be adopted to overcome them are also discussed. The paper concludes that adopting clean technologies should be of utmost importance in domestic energy strategies and these should be supported by governments and other stakeholders. 1 Introduction The term ‘climate change’ is now frequently used by scientists instead of ‘global warming’. According to the National Academy of Sciences in the USA, this is probably to draw attention to the fact that there are other changes besides the rise in global temperatures. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, ‘climate change’ refers to any significant change in measures of climate lasting for decades or more. These changes could be due to natural factors and processes, as well as human activities that change the atmosphere’s composition (e.g., through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, reforestation, urbanisation, desertification, etc.) (Keeling, 1998; IPCC, 2001; Akinbami et al., 2003). On the other hand, global warming has been described as an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns. It could be induced by both natural and human activities. It then becomes clear that global warming is subsumed in climate change.