By Valentia Tetteh
The images of submerged homes, stranded motorists and devastated families following recent floods across parts of the Greater Accra Region have once again highlighted Ghana’s growing vulnerability to climate-related disasters. As communities continue to recover from the destruction, the government says it is intensifying efforts to secure international climate financing to strengthen adaptation measures and reduce the impact of future disasters.
Appearing before Parliament’s Assurance Committee on Thursday, July 9, the Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, Seidu Issifu, disclosed that the government has established a Climate Emergency Resource Track under the Presidency to mobilise international climate finance to support adaptation, mitigation and disaster response initiatives.
According to the Minister, inadequate financing remains one of the biggest obstacles to addressing climate change and its associated impacts.
“The biggest challenge we have in the fight against climate change is financing,” he told the Committee.
Mr. Issifu explained that the newly established Climate Emergency Resource Track, approved by President John Dramani Mahama, is expected to coordinate efforts to attract funding from international development partners, philanthropic organisations and global climate financing institutions.
“The Climate Emergency Resource Track is supposed to assist us to mobilise climate financing internationally to support government efforts. We are doing that under the Presidency with the supervision of His Excellency the President so that whatever resources we generate will support flood victims and strengthen adaptation and mitigation measures,” he said.
The Minister disclosed that his office has already begun submitting funding proposals to potential international partners.
“As of yesterday, I had signed about 50 different proposals that are being submitted to individual funding sources to raise resources to support the government’s efforts. Our target is to engage about 100 different institutions, including philanthropic organisations and climate financing partners,” he stated.
Mr. Issifu stressed that Ghana’s strategy is focused primarily on attracting international climate finance rather than relying solely on domestic resources.
“Our interest is predominantly international financing. We are not looking only at local resources because climate action requires significant investment,” he added.
Touching on Ghana’s broader climate agenda, the Minister said government is updating its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement while implementing the National Energy Transition Framework and the Climate Prosperity Plan to accelerate the country’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.
He explained that the government is promoting renewable energy, decarbonisation of the transport and energy sectors and other interventions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions while achieving the country’s net-zero aspirations.
Mr. Issifu noted that climate resilience remains central to the government’s development agenda as Ghana continues to experience increasingly frequent extreme weather events linked to climate change.
