Ghana gets Climate Innovation Centre
The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in partnership with the World Bank, Ashesi University and the governments of Netherlands and Denmark, have inaugurated Ghana’s Climate Innovation Centre.
Over the next ten years, the centre which is the first of its kind in the country will support Ghana’s National Climate Change Policy by contributing to the production of clean energy and mitigation of carbon emissions.
According to the World Bank, the centre will reduce the long-term costs of climate change by helping climate technology entrepreneurs overcome obstacles in developing and marketing innovate clean technologies, mitigating up to 660,000 tons of CO2 – the emissions of about 140,000 cars per year – helping over 300,000 Ghanaians increase their resilience to climate change which is affecting agricultural output.
“Over the next five years, the centre will assist over 100 climate technology businesses to develop and scale innovative solutions to climate change. These businesses will create high quality local jobs and economic opportunities for Ghanaians,” World Bank Country Director Dr Henry Kirali was quoted saying at the launch.
The World Bank report “Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change” Ghana’s agricultural GDP is projected to decline by 3 to 8 per cent by the middle of the century without a proper green growth strategy, while coastal erosion from rising sea levels could result in significant loss of land and forced migration. Extreme weather events could also further strain the country’s infrastructure.
Ghana’s Climate Innovation Centre joins a global network of Climate Innovation Centres covering Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco, the Caribbean and Vietnam.
It will be managed by a consortium led by the Ashesi University College with Ernst & Young, SNV Netherlands Development Organization, and the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
By Emmanuel Odonkor