Gov’t seeks commercially viable CC projects

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has advocated for commercially viable solutions to help contain the rippling effects of climate change (CC) on the country’s socio-economic activities.

These solutions, according to Deputy Finance Minister Mona Quartey, should deliver both environmental sustainability and economic returns.

Speaking in Accra at the end of a study workshop on “Climate Change Financing in Ghana,” carried out by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) University of Ghana, and the Oversees Development Institute (ODI)-UK, she said: “I wish to emphasise that in developing climate change programmes and projects, the Finance Ministry places premium not only on socially and economically viable projects and programmes, but more importantly commercially viable ones which are capable of attracting private capital and can also be funded via the Public-Private Partnership mechanism.

“Some of these projects include mainly cleaning and sanitation services. We are engulfed in a lot of waste; perhaps there aren’t enough institutions doing this sort of work. We have the AMA and Zoomlion, but if we can have more companies doing cleaning and sanitation and getting paid for it, then it can be a very lucrative and important job.”

Despite several policies and projects by government in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation -- such as the Ada and Keta coastal protection, distribution of solar lanterns, replacement of incandescent bulbs with energy-savings ones, replacement of old fridges with energy-efficient ones as well as mass tree-planting -- some challenges persist, affecting the country’s sustainable development efforts negatively.

Mrs. Quartey identified climate change as one of the major challenges, saying: “It’s not only a threat to the achievement of sustainable development and poverty reduction, but also has the potential to reverse the modest gains that the country has achieved toward attaining some components of the Millennium Development Goals -- specifically those aimed at poverty reduction, access to water, energy, housing, improved transport and improved agriculture productivity”.

The study, which spanned a period of seven months, sought to find out how climate finance is integrated into Ghana’s national budget and identify spending that can be classified as climate finance.

The research identified that spending toward climate change is mostly not labeled as ‘climate finance’. There was also no mention in the National Climate Change Policy of how funds will be raised to deliver the plan, and no process outlined to ensure transparency and accountability.

Additionally, there is also no finance strategy to accompany the plan, and an insufficient capacity to coordinate and oversee climate change spending across government.

The study recommended that there should be: better climate finance information; stronger climate finance policies; support for government institutions; better public financial management; and awareness-creation targetting local government agencies.

The Director of ISSER, Professor Felix Asante, explained that: “Climate change planners need to understand the relevance and importance of climate change for the plan to receive necessary buy-in support.

“The effectiveness of climate finance delivery depends on a joined-up approach between policymakers, institutions and the national budgetary system.”