While the country received an amount of US$776.5million from international donors between 2013 and 2017 to address climate change issues, fears arise that despite the huge amount and efforts required to tackle the growing concerns of climate there is no comprehensive climate change legislation to guide activities.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in its 2023 Ghana Climate Change Report, notes that Ghana will need to invest between US$9.3 and US$15.5billion to implement the 47 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as key measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change by 2030.
However, Ghana’s NDCs targets are not enshrined in law. The Department says the rather piecemeal laws, regulations and policies across various sectors is also worrying.
The three largest providers of climate change funding to Ghana are the European Union (EU), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United States government.
But the report indicated these funds predominantly targetted mitigation activities and were distributed across 405 projects in the country.
Also, an estimated 30 percent of the funds in this period came in the form of loans – as the country also received financing from the Green Climate Fund to implement four projects in the Northern Region.
These funding sources are insufficient to address all the climate change needs in the country.
USDA is concerned that agriculture and livestock, two of the sectors most impacted by weather-related threats, are already being exposed by the effects of the climate. Climate change is already affecting the country’s water resources, as flood exposure is projected to result in damages worth US$160million annually.
Mean temperatures are projected to increase by 1.0°C to 3.0°C by 2050, and by 2.3°C to 5.3°C by end of the century. The Department also noted that projected warming will likely occur faster in the drier northern areas than coastal regions.
The document however said development of the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) in 2013, the Renewable Energy Master Plan, ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, signing onto the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and membership of the Green Climate Fund are all major commitments to the fight.
On 14 September 2022, the Climate Parliament hosted a virtual parliamentary roundtable with legislators from Ghana to discuss the potential of developing and passing a Climate Change Law in their country.
