Mayor of Accra, Elizabeth Sackey, with other participants at the summit
Mayor of Accra, Elizabeth Tawiah Sackey has highlighted the city’s efforts to fulfill its green transition and advance global action to combat the climate crisis through strengthening collaboration with informal waste sector actors.
She said city authorities have since 2021 implemented the Inclusive Climate Action Programme (CAP) with support from C40 Cities to prioritise the voice, visibility, and participation of informal waste actors.
“We are working to incorporate waste contracts and concessions for informal waste cooperatives…This transition is an inclusive approach to addressing the climate crisis and is at the intersection of climate change, labour, and inequality in Accra, this means building a more recognised informal waste sector to support emissions reduction in the city and enable more safeguarded informal jobs,” she said.
The mayor of Accra was speaking at the opening plenary of the global gathering of mayors at the C40’s triennial climate action conference at the Buenos Aires Convention Center in Argentina.
The summit brought together mayors, climate experts, advocates, business leaders, and youth activists from cities around the world to “agree” to new commitments to fight global warming with a focus on green and fair economic recovery with job creation, access to financing for environmental projects, and cities of well-being to address the climate crisis.
Madam Sackey, used the opportunity to share the innovative work city authorities were implementing to create accessible green career opportunities and address the climate crisis as well as accelerate the delivery of climate commitments to help build a more sustainable, equitable world where everyone, everywhere can thrive.
“We have prioritised the recognition, representation, and participation of informal waste actors in the city’s waste policy discourse and action. By doing this, we are optimistic of co-creating solutions to enhance the informal waste sector’s access to the benefits of climate action like cleaner air, more safeguarded jobs and livelihoods, social protection, and safer communities,” she added.
She pointed out that Accra through its inclusive climate action work, “is taking action to respond to identified migrant-specific urban development challenges in the informal waste sector to improve childcare facilities for children of migrant informal waste workers and facilitate access to healthcare and financial inclusion in the city.”
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri