Ghana’s Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, Issifu Seidu, has stressed the necessity of international collaboration to tackle climate change, stating, “Climate change remains a priority for Ghana and our overarching agenda is to contribute to halting the rapidly accelerating climate crisis that is destroying both lives and livelihoods of nations at a rate not seen ever on the planet”.
Addressing the Ghana Day event at COP30 in Belem, Brasil, Hon. Seidu underscored Ghana’s initiatives to combat climate change, including investing over $200 million in the Greater Accra Resilient Integrated Development project and €3.8 million in climate risk insurance. He emphasized that developed countries must honor their climate finance pledges, saying, “The scope of support for global adaptation efforts is inadequate to address the problem at hand. It needs to be accelerated quickly”.
He noted that Ghana has made significant strides in implementing its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), including developing key policies such as the Agriculture Long Term Strategy, National Electric Vehicle Strategy, and National Energy Transition Framework. He also highlighted the launch of the Energy Transition Framework, the Carbon Market Office, and bilateral agreements on Article 6.2 with Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore.
Hon. Seidu called for a more robust global response to the climate emergency, saying, “We cannot risk passing the tipping point, hence our call to major emitters to align their Nationally Determined Contributions to achieve the 1.5°C targets”. He stressed the need for the Global Goal on Adaptation to be implemented and the Adaptation Fund to be bolstered to support vulnerable countries.
He concluded by urging all stakeholders to collaborate towards a low-carbon future for Ghana and the world, saying, “I call on all present to do your best to contribute to ensure that when we leave here our participation in this COP will be one that will lead to a resilient and transformational low carbon Ghana”.
