Traxport Engages Climate Focus To Strengthen Lagos–Kano Rail Carbon Programme

Traxport Rail Services Ltd has engaged climate consultancy organisation Climate Focus to design and strengthen the carbon programme for its proposed Lagos–Kano Low-Carbon Freight Corridor, as the company seeks to align the project with international carbon standards and position it to attract climate finance.

Announced on 17th August, 2026, the engagement will see Climate Focus revise the project’s Project Design Document (PDD) to meet the requirements of Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). The work will include applying the AM0090 methodology to establish the project boundary, baseline and monitoring framework, as well as developing an ex-ante emissions-reduction calculation framework.

Climate Focus will also prepare technical materials to support the project’s subsequent validation and verification under the VCS programme.

The underlying rail initiative is designed to rehabilitate and intensively utilise about 1,500 kilometres of Nigeria’s existing narrow-gauge rail corridor, creating a dedicated freight link between Lagos, the country’s principal port gateway, and Kano, a major industrial and commercial hub in the north.
Traxport is developing the corridor in partnership with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), alongside technical and financing partners.

The project is intended to position rail as a platform for freight decarbonisation while helping to ease port congestion, reduce pressure on Nigeria’s highways and improve logistics efficiency.

Traxport Chairman Chukwuemeka Ndu said the carbon component of the project would be built on “rigorous methodology, transparent assumptions and credible measurement from the outset.” He said Climate Focus’s specialist expertise would strengthen the PDD, emissions-reduction framework and stakeholder engagement with Nigerian authorities and prospective investors.

As the project progresses, Traxport plans to expand engagement with Nigeria’s Designated National Authority, development and climate-finance institutions, prospective investors, freight customers and other stakeholders involved in the country’s transport and energy transition.

Climate Focus will support the preparation of partnership and project materials and assist Traxport in responding to technical questions relating to the carbon programme. Traxport will retain responsibility for government and financing discussions.

The broader objective is to shift suitable long-distance freight from road to rail, creating a commercially viable corridor whose greenhouse-gas impacts can be systematically measured, reported and independently verified.

Subject to meeting VCS requirements, the project’s PDD is expected to be submitted for listing under Verra’s programme. Successful validation and verification could ultimately enable the project to generate carbon credits linked to verified emissions reductions.

The initiative reflects a broader effort to combine rail infrastructure development with carbon-market mechanisms, potentially creating an additional financing avenue for the rehabilitation and increased utilisation of Nigeria’s freight rail network.