Alhassan Andani, President of Bankers Association of Ghana
Government has urged private sector players to support it to raise $6.3 billion domestically to finance the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) plan.
The NDC plan consists of climate actions and projects that were adopted by 195 countries in 2015 under the Paris Agreement.
Targeted at combating climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the NDC has a long-term goal of first keeping the increasing global average temperature well below 2 °C, which is above pre-industrial levels and to further limit it to 1.5 °C in order to substantially reduce the risks and effects of climate change.
Speaking during the NDC Investment forum at the Africa Climate Week Conference Monday in Accra, Minister of Planning, Prof George Yaw Gyan-Baffour, cited the inability to access the Green Climate Fund and unpreparedness of the private sector to take risk in unprofitable investment as some major challenges in the implementation of the plan.
He, therefore, urged government investment agencies such as the Ghana Investment Promotion (GIPC) to do more in identifying and promoting climate friendly investment projects that would attract the private sector.
Notwithstanding the challenges, he said government would not compromise on the environmental sustainability of such projects.
The event was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI).
The UNDP Resident Representative, Gita Welch, indicated that addressing climate change provides the greatest opportunity for investment, which requires strong political will and strategic approach.
“Studies have shown that bold climate action could trigger $26 trillion in economic benefits by 2030 and create 65 million new jobs,” she said.
She also said that private funds to finance the implementation of NDC in Africa have not been encouraging, since 85 percent of the region’s NDC depends on international financing.
The implementation of the NDC is also in tandem with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Goal 13, which aims at mobilising $100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries and help mitigate climate-related disasters.
Acting Executive Director of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), John Pwamang, said though government has so far invested in excess of $13 billion to provide green house solutions to Ghanaians, such investment were inadequate to achieve the NDC target.
“We are ready for your investments in the climate actions to create green jobs and promote economic development,” he added.
By Issah Mohammed