Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has revealed that Ghana has set target to fully transition plans from fossil fuel to renewable energy by 2070.

According to him, government is committed to contributing to reducing emissions. Nonetheless, he indicated that a balance must be struck and maintained in the context of the country’s social, economic, and environmental requirements.

To this end, Dr Bawumia called on stakeholders in the energy sector to accelerate the production and utilization of oil and gas reserves in Ghana.

Dr Bawumia made these revelations at the official opening of the 5th Edition of the Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCon).

“Let me add that Ghana has set a target of 2070 to fully transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. So, even though as a government, we are fully committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2070; we also have to take steps to accelerate the production and utilization of our oil and gas reserves.”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

Dr Bawumia stated that fossil fuels, particularly natural gas will continue to be part of Ghana’s energy mix in the short term. Additionally, he explained that this will take place whilst “strategies will be put in place to increase the share of renewable energy in the mix” from medium to long term.

Reducing emissions from petroleum products

On his part, the Chief Executive of National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, expressed government’s commitment in reducing the emissions from consumption of petroleum products.

“And I’m glad to mention we were the first West African country to reduce sulphur content in transport and industrial fuels from a maximum of 5000ppm to a maximum of 50ppm.”
Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid

This year’s conference is on the theme ‘Energy Transition in the African Petroleum Downstream Context: Prospects, Challenges and the Way Forward’.

The conference is being organized by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in collaboration with the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy and the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD). It has attracted major players including CEOs, experts and decision makers in the petroleum sector across the West Africa Sub Region.

It will be recalled that the National Energy Transition Committee (NETC), the body tasked with developing a national energy transition policy, earlier this month, projected that Ghana will need approximately $250 billion to achieve its target of net 0 carbon emissions by 2070.

A member of the NETC, Callistus Nero, highlighted that as part of efforts to fund the transition, the Committee intends to devise a strategy in the policy that would entice local or international investors to participate in Ghana’s energy transition.

Mr Nero noted that although countries worldwide were expected to stop their reliance on fossil fuels by 2050, Ghana’s “cautious transition” meant it would meet the target in 2070. The country currently has a C02 emission per capita equivalent to 0.51tonnes.

“Locally, Ghana wants to transition but we want to do that at our own pace, based on our needs and our resources. So, we want to first of all transition to a low carbon economy and eventually to Net 0 which per our plan looks at us achieving at 2070.”
Callistus Nero

Mr Nero revealed that the Committee was tasked with putting in place measures to ensure that Ghana meets this target.