Ghana should cash in on Climate Change Business Opportunities-Banker

Accra, Nov. 22, GNA - Ghana stands a better chance of making economic gains in strategic areas that evolve around climate change, a leading member of the Ecobank International Organisations Department has said. Speaking on the topic: "Business Opportunities from the Climate Change Agenda," in Accra at the weekend, Mr. Yves Coffi, Group Head of Wholesales Banking of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, said the country could benefit from climate change by identifying and exploring business opportunities that involve the reduction of carbon emissions. "It is these activities that can pull additional opportunities and revenues for the country," he said.

He made the presentation, at a seminar organised by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, in collaboration with the World Bank for the private sector in Accra.

Mr. Coffi said business opportunities abound in dealing in energy efficiency, renewable, distribution, and marketing, which have the potential of reducing carbon emissions as well as fetching financial returns for the country.

He said in the field of telecommunication, the telecom service providers should consider powering their transmitters with solar energy instead of diesel powered generators to bring reliable services and save operational cost.

In the transport sector, he noted that efficient transportation services such as long buses could be used to reduce fleets of cars and mini-buses that plied the roads to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Mr Coffi said there were financial mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol, which Ghana, as a signatory could access to promote low carbon emission for economic development.

He said the mechanisms were mostly domiciled in institutions such as the World Bank Group, which aimed at subsidising the transaction cost, while promoting public and private sector participation in low carbon emissions activities.

He said carbon trading was a term used to describe a trading approach where Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were capped and then markets were used to allocate the emissions among the group of regulated sources. Mr Coffi said the idea was to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes in the direction of low emissions or less carbon intensive approaches.

He said since GHG mitigation projects generated credits, this approach could be used to finance carbon reduction schemes among trading partners around the world.

Such offsetting and mitigating activities, he said could be undertaken in any developing country, which had ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and have a national agreement in place to validate the carbon project through one of the approved mechanisms. Mr Coffi said prospective project developers needed to understand the project development and financing modality for carbon credit eligibility. "This will enable Africa to derive the desired dividends," he said. 22 Nov 09