The Bank of Ghana on Tuesday launched a Sustainable Finance Roadmap to integrate climate risk management and environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards across the country’s financial sector.
The framework, developed jointly by the Bank of Ghana, the National Insurance Commission (NIC), the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is intended to channel capital into sustainable investments while strengthening the financial sector’s resilience to climate-related risks.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the roadmap would help position Ghana to attract international capital and strengthen long-term economic growth.
“Sustainable finance is not only about managing risks. It is also about positioning Ghana to access new pools of global capital, to finance critical infrastructure, to support the energy transition, to deepen our financial markets, and to strengthen long-term growth,” he said.
Dr Asiama said the roadmap would mobilise private and institutional capital, including green and blended finance, integrate sustainability into financial decision-making, and strengthen financial institutions’ capacity to identify, assess and manage climate-related risks.
He announced the publication of a four-year strategic plan on sustainability and climate-related risk for 2024–2028, together with a Climate-Related Financial Risk Directive to support implementation.
Dr Asiama said the roadmap culminated a process that began in 2015 with the establishment of a multi-stakeholder steering committee involving the Ghana Association of Banks and the Environmental Protection Agency.
He said the initiative resulted in the Sustainable Banking Principles, adopted voluntarily by all 23 commercial banks in 2019, with industry compliance reaching 73 per cent as of September 2025.
“…But a roadmap, of course, is only as good as its implementation. The launch is an important milestone, but implementation is where its true value will be realised,” he said.
The launch was held on the theme: “Achieving regulatory convergence on ESG: Promoting a resilient and sustainable future for Ghana.”
The roadmap is being supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
In a speech read on his behalf, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson said climate sustainability had become a macroeconomic, financial stability and national development priority.
“When floods wash away roads, the cost appears in the budget. When droughts affect crop yield, it appears in food inflation. Capital must not only seek return, but it must also build resilience,” he said.
The Minister said Ghana had already introduced the Bank of Ghana’s Sustainable Banking Principles and the Ministry of Finance’s Green Finance Taxonomy, and urged financial institutions to incorporate sustainability considerations into lending decisions, including financing for construction and mining.
Mr Seidu Issifu, Minister of State in charge of Climate and Sustainability, described the roadmap as “a declaration of intent” and said it would enable banks, insurers, capital markets and pension funds to expand financing for sustainable development.
He called on financial institutions to integrate ESG principles into their strategies and disclose climate-related risks, while urging regulators to strengthen supervisory frameworks and data infrastructure.
Ms Janine Walz, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland, said the roadmap marked the beginning of implementation and stressed the need for continued capacity building and stakeholder engagement.
She reaffirmed Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) support for implementation.
Ms Nathalie Kouassi Akon, IFC Division Director for West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, said the roadmap established a common framework for financial regulators and would require sustained capacity building, innovative financial products, and unwavering commitment to transparency and accountability from all stakeholders.
