Ghana needs about 53.3 billion dollars to implement its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), a 10-year climate action framework aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening resilience to climate change impacts.
The updated NDCs, covering the period 2025 to 2035, were presented to stakeholders in Accra on Friday for validation and consultations ahead of submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The revised framework, prepared under Article 4.2 of the Paris Agreement, outlines Ghana’s climate ambitions across key sectors including energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry, water, and health.
Speaking at the consultation workshop, Madam Suweibah Adam, Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), described the updated NDCs as “a historic milestone in Ghana’s climate journey.”
She said the framework marked “a decisive shift from a collection of individual climate-related projects to a comprehensive, integrated national strategy for climate-resilient and low-carbon development.”
Madam Adam said the climate strategy was structured around five strategic pillars, including energy transition, sustainable transport, circular economy and waste management, nature-based solutions, and climate adaptation and resilience.
Under the energy transition pillar, Ghana plans to develop 1,000 megawatts of clean nuclear baseload power, add more than 1,600 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, promote green hydrogen development, and expand clean cooking solutions.
The transport and infrastructure component includes a proposed 4.5 billion dollar railway expansion, an inner-city light rail system for Accra, and a scale-up to about 1.225 million electric vehicles.
The framework also seeks to transform industrial production and waste management through recycling, waste-to-energy biodigesters, methane capture systems, and low-carbon industrial technologies for sectors such as steel and cement.
On nature-based solutions, the plan builds on Ghana’s Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme, which has earned more than 21.7 million dollars in results-based payments, while advancing carbon removal technologies such as biochar and carbon capture systems.
The adaptation and resilience pillar includes a proposed 9.648-billion-dollar investment in climate-resilient water infrastructure and a 3.155-billion-dollar coastal resilience and blue economy programme to protect Ghana’s 550-kilometre coastline.
Madam Adam said the total investment requirement represented “a blueprint for hundreds of thousands of green jobs, enhanced public health, food and water security, and a competitive, decarbonised industrial base.”
Dr Peter Dery, Director of Environment at MEST, said the NDCs represented Ghana’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to reduce emissions and address the effects of climate change.
He said Ghana aimed to reduce emissions by about 71 per cent over the next 10 years while strengthening resilience in vulnerable sectors.
Mr Dery said the document also outlined the financial requirements and possible sources of funding needed to implement the programmes.
Mr Zia Choudhury, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, in a speech read on his behalf, said Ghana, despite contributing only a small fraction of global emissions, had continued to demonstrate “ambitious and credible climate commitments.”
He said full implementation of Ghana’s mitigation plans could help avoid about 2,900 premature deaths annually through improved air quality and create an estimated one million green jobs.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries are required to update and submit their NDCs every five years. Ghana last updated its climate action plans in 2021.
Source : GNA
