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Minister-designate for Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has called on Ghana to explore new sources of climate financing and build strategic partnerships to support the country’s environmental and green development goals.
She said Ghana could make greater use of South-South cooperation and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to attract climate finance, access green technologies and strengthen the country’s response to climate change.
Speaking before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, August 27, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said although developed countries had made commitments to provide financial support to countries most vulnerable to climate change, much of the promised funding had yet to reach countries such as Ghana.
She said Ghana therefore needed to look beyond traditional sources of climate finance and identify other opportunities to secure the funding and technology required to address environmental challenges.
According to her, partnerships with countries facing similar challenges could be particularly useful if Ghana carefully identified what it needed and matched those needs with the strengths and resources of potential partners.
“I think, like you mentioned, South-South cooperation is key. As a country, we need to look at strategic partners who perhaps share similar problems but may have different advantages, and then perhaps leverage on that,” she said.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings stressed that such partnerships should be connected to Ghana’s wider development priorities rather than pursued as isolated initiatives.
She also identified the AfCFTA as a potential platform for strengthening cooperation among African countries on climate-related investment and technology.
“Looking at how we can leverage on that using the African Continental Free Trade Agreement might be useful in terms of how we leverage on climate finance and green technology,” she added.
Her comments come as African countries continue to face difficulties accessing sufficient funding to support climate adaptation, mitigation and the transition to cleaner technologies.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings’ proposal points to a broader strategy in which Ghana could use regional cooperation and partnerships with other developing countries to complement international climate financing and accelerate its green development agenda.
Source: Omanghana
