A cross-section of Ghana’s private sector has proposed green climate sustainability and adaptation projects that can enable the country to access the earmarked Global Green Climate Fund (GCF).
The proposals are grouped into four areas, comprising enhanced agriculture food systems, waste management and recycling, reclamation of degraded lands, and restoration of coastal resources.
The GCF is a global fund set aside to enable countries, especially low- and middle-income countries, to access funding to implement climate-related projects.
The private sector participants were drawn from the financial sector, circular and bio-economy sector, research institutions, and agricultural sector, among others.
They were constituted in a two-day workshop organised by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres in partnership with Ecobank and Agricultural Development Bank.
Pâques Sidonie Kouam-Gwet, Regional Investment Lead for Africa at the GGGI, said the workshop was to enhance Ghana’s private sector capacity to help it develop project concepts to access suitable climate finance resources.
“We believe the government cannot do it alone, hence we decided to mobilise the private sector for their contributions. By this, they can get involved and sustain the projects as well as support the communities.”
“Through this, we will understand the need and challenges the country is facing towards green resource mobilisation,” she added.
Kouam-Gwet said they were going to develop the proposals into a concept note in the next three to six months for submission to the GCF and other international climate funds.
Robert Mensah, principal economics officer of the Natural Resource, Environment and Climate Unit, Ministry of Finance, said climate challenges threatened the achievements of sustainable development goals and poverty reduction.
“Given the wider impact of climate change, capacity building needs to be enrolled out to include the wider society, that is, the private sector, the media, non-governmental organisations and, above all, communities,” he stressed.
Mensah said the private sector had an enormous role to play in investments and technological innovations that would underpin low carbon growth.
“Ghana’s private sector needs to know how climate change affects profits, for example, how energy efficiency reduces the cost of doing business and how best to engage with complex concepts for carbon markets,” he added.
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