The UNDP’s Acting Deputy Resident Representative to Ghana, Jelena Raketic, has urged the private sector to see investment in climate change activities as a way of unlocking massive economic and social benefits in the country.
Climate change offers the “greatest investment opportunity in history,” she said adding that such investment will help Ghana achieve its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) goals.
Ms Raketic explained that climate investment is “valued at about 10 percent of global GDP, and addressing it provides an unprecedented opportunity to unlock massive economic and social benefits.”
“This can help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and leave no one behind. Studies have found that bold climate action could trigger US$26 trillion in economic benefits by 2030 and create around 65 million new jobs,” she added.
Speaking at a private sector climate change investment forum on the theme “Empowering the Private Sector as a key Partner in achieving Ghana’s NDCs in the era of COVID-19 and beyond,” she said despite climate and sustainable finance gaining momentum internationally, the case in “Africa has been and remains comparatively low.”
“In 2018, a total of $12.5 billion in climate finance was secured across sub-Saharan Africa, which is relatively low, particularly when viewed against significant single country needs of the scale of Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions conditional commitments.”
Ms Raketic applauded Ghana for being a regional champion in engaging the private sector in its approach to climate change as this can be seen in how the Ministry of Environment and the Environmental Protection Agency are “working with the team of experts from public and private sector on the development of standardized low carbon products that can be aggregated and structured to attract investors.”
Also, the UNDP has been working with the government to support these efforts.
Additionally, the “UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation has started a pilot innovative financing solutions such as Performance Based Payment mechanism to de-risk private sector investment in the implementation of the NDC.”
The two-day investment forum seeks to “engage private sector players on the opportunities and risks to climate change investment and to identify possible concrete actions that can be taken forward to overcome key barriers, particularly in the era of COVID-19.”
The forum will be hosted by the Private Enterprises Federation in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance (Economic Strategy and Research Division), Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and the United Nations Development Programme under the GCF Readiness Programme and the Nationally Determined Contribution Support Programme.