The government has indicated it spent GH¢ 221.4 million last year towards the delivery of programs under Goal 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which focuses on Climate Action and seeks to ensure that countries take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Out of the total budget, GH¢ 211.4 million was allocated to programs at the MDA level. The rest of the GH¢10 million was also allocated towards the delivery of programs at the MMDA levels in the National Budget.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Internally Generated Funds (IGF) were the main source of funding towards the delivery of programs under the SGD 13 last year. Funds from IGF amounted to GH¢117.3 million.

Meanwhile, the fight against climate has become more intensified across the globe. This is because countries are striving to build back better from the devastating effects of the pandemic. Moreover, COVID-19 has caused CO₂ emissions and human mobility to reduce, improving air quality. This is the reason why the world sees this era as an opportunity to combat climate change. As such, discussions on SDG 13 has become more important than ever before.

Specific Targets

A total of four targets received funding under SDG 13 last year, namely 13.1, 13.2, 13.3 and 13.a. But, the MoF revealed that target 13.1 received the most funding of GH¢214.1 million. On the other hand, the least funded target was 13.a with an amount of only GH¢7,500.

Furthermore, regional analyses revealed that the Upper East, Greater Accra, and Volta were the top three regions that received funding under this Goal. The three regions received corresponding amounts of GH¢ 3.3 million, GH¢ 1.6 million and GH¢ 1.2 million respectively. The MoF stated that the sources of funds in all three regions were from Development Partners, IGF and Statutory.

Meanwhile, Development Partner funds were the highest in the Upper East Region. However, Statutory funds were the highest for Greater Accra and Volta Regions.

National Perspective

The MoF pointed out that the direct manifestation of climate change in Ghana is evident in the increasing temperatures, rainfall variability, and sea-level rise. Also, there are increasing greenhouse gas emissions and loss of carbon sinks that are threatening the lives and livelihoods of a great number of its people.

Moreover, Ghana’s economy relies heavily on climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, energy and forestry. According to the MoF, about 70% of the population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture. These people also depend on the forest sector for both timber and non-timber forest products. As a result, the government has made concerted efforts to mainstream climate change in to policies and sectoral activities.

In June 2020, Ghana launched the process to develop a National Adaptation Plan (NAP). The NAP process is to develop temperature and rainfall scenarios up to 60 years into the future. This will serve as planning guides for government’s investment decisions. It will also aid changes to regulatory and fiscal frameworks or public awareness to reduce exposure and sensitivity to climate risks.

Furthermore, the government Initiatives outlined some initiatives in the 2020 budget to combat climate change. This include the development of a Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (CSAIP). The aim of the CSAIP is to implement the Agriculture and Food Security component of its National Climate Change policy.

Also, the government implemented the Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership and the Project on Marine Litter and Microplastics.

Global Perspective

Meanwhile, climate change is a crosscutting development issue that poses a major threat to long-term growth and prosperity of all countries. As such, the collective global is to keep global temperature increase well below 2 degrees. This goal also aims at strengthening the ability of countries to deal with its impact through appropriate financial flows. Other ways of achieving this include the development of a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework.