Ghana, as part of its commitment to combat the global climate crisis, aims to implement 34 mitigation actions across the energy, transport, forestry, waste and industry sectors.

Madam Audrey Quarcoo, Director of Corporate Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the mitigation actions would see the nation attain a substantial reduction of 64 million tonnes in emissions by 2030.

She said the country was emitting about 60 million tonnes (1.9 per capita) compared to the global average of 4.6 per capita and faces emissions projection to 100 million tonnes by 2030 under the “do nothing scenario”.

Madam Quarcoo said this at the National Pre-COP meeting for Ghana towards the COP 28 in Dubai where experts, policymakers, negotiators and representatives contributed their insights in shaping the nation’s stance on the global front.

“Additionally, the country aspires to create over one million green jobs by 2030 and prevent 2,900 premature deaths through improved air quality,” she added.

She said such commitment had been demonstrated in initiatives including the development of the Article 6 framework on the carbon market, the ongoing National Adaptation Planning Readiness Project and the Sustainable Cocoa-Forest Programme.

The recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the inadequacy of current global mitigation pledges.

“These pledges projected a 45 per cent reduction necessary to limit the rise in Earth’s temperature to below1.5 degree goal”.

Madam Quarcoo said despite the 3.6 per cent contribution of global emissions from Africa, the continent remained vulnerable to severe impacts of climate change.

Mr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister, Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, in his address, said several important measures had been executed prior to the PRECOP meeting.

Some of the measures were the formation of a Central Planning Committee chaired by MESTI to plan and coordinate Ghana’s successful preparation before the COP, participation during the COP and reporting after the COP.

Two high-level Inter-Ministerial meetings on COP28 among Sector Ministers were held to deliberate and provide guidance to the planning Committee.

This year’s 28th Conference of Parties (COP 28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 30th November to 12th December 2023 at the Expo Convention Centre in Dubai.

The conference is dubbed “Unite, Act, Deliver”. The reason for the theme is to marshal all forces and resources to ensure that the Paris Agreement is delivered by 2030.