When Donald Trump recently told the United Nations that climate change was a ‘con job’, he voiced a scepticism that still echoes—not because science is wholly invalid, but because nations whose survival hinges on hydrocarbons fear being asked to mortgage their present prosperity for a distant, uncertain ideal. For Nigeria, the question is not whether to contest climate theory but how best to deploy our hydrocarbon assets in a world that is evolving rapidly, and to do so through a carefully managed transformation rather than a reckless leap.