At the Ghana Pavilion of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, the NDC Action Project, in cooperation of the Ghanian government, organised a panel titled Partnerships and Strategies for Investing in Innovation Low-carbon Technologies: A Focus on Ghana’s Plans for Urban Electric Buses.
The event, attended by government entities, financial institutions, civil society and other actors, provided an insight into Ghana’s plans on e-mobility, fleet renewal, and public transport reforms.
The speakers also highlighted recent studies on market feasibility for electric buses, the national roadmap for electric mobility, and a policy and market readiness framework for electric mobility in Ghana, developed with assistance from the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC).
Ghana’s mission to improve air quality through the transport sector
The session was opened and moderated by Thomas Kankam-Adjei, the National Project Coordinator for the NDC Action Project in Ghana.
During the keynote speech, Frederick Obeng, the Deputy Minister of Transport, mentioned that the Ministry of Transport has signed a Memory of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology to collaborate further on e-mobility project development in the country. This agreement expresses the country’s readiness to tilt electric mobility to new heights and promises further future commitments in Ghana.
After this positive note, Daniel Essel from the Ministry of Transport highlighted the multiple sustainability benefits for Ghana in shifting from fossil-fuel vehicles to electric ones. He highlighted the support provided by the CTCN and UNEP-CCC to deliver technical inputs to a national electric e-mobility roadmap and investment strategy, prioritizing urban e-buses.
Jane Akumu from UNEP’s Sustainable Mobility Unit briefed the audience on the historical progress Ghana has made on national transport standards and regulations, making it a leading country in Africa on cleaner transport fuels, fuel efficiency and technology upgrading. She also highlighted the opportunities available to Ghana to access global climate finance for e-mobility where UNEP offers technical support through various teams and their accreditation with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Green Climate Fund (GCF).
The NDC Action project provides technical inputs and facilitates partnerships to create markets for new low-carbon technologies. In this case by installing a green charging infrastructure for 75 urban e-buses. This is achieved by influencing the regulatory environment and finding proposals to de-risk private investment in e-mobility technologies that require only marginal support to operate on commercial terms.
At UNEP-CCC and UNEP, we support partner countries by providing them science-based advisory, to help develop bankable proposals for climate financing in support of national sustainable development ambitions.
