Readiness to finance carbon emissions offsets by road passengers in northeastern Nigeria: An application of contingent valuation technique

As the world faces pressing challenge of climate change, developing effective strategies to reduce carbon emissions has become paramount. Thus, this study investigates the readiness of road transport passengers in northeastern Nigeria to contribute to carbon offset efforts. The study involved 400 randomly selected road passengers which were questioned about how much they would be willing to spend on carbon emissions reduction based on predetermined bid prices. The study used Contingent Valuation method (CV) for data analysis and the results revealed that socioeconomic variables such as marital status, income level, gender, and education status were found as significant determinants of readiness to finance carbon offsets. Additionally, the research identified N66.15 as the estimated average WTP per individual monthly for this study. That was the value that road passengers are prepared to spend in addition to the cost of transportation in order to offset the emissions generated while they are traveling. As a recommendation, relevant stakeholders and policymakers should conduct targeted awareness campaigns to educate road travel passengers about the benefits of carbon offset initiatives. Also, feedback from road transport passengers should be sought regularly to adapt the programs according to their preferences and needs so as to reduce the impact of CO2 emissions on environment in the research area.