The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is working with the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF) to secure accreditation to enable Ghana to tap into the Green Climate Fund.

Professor Patrick Verkooijen, the Chief Executive Officer of the GCA, told a press conference in Accra that African countries cannot access much of the funding from the Green Climate Fund because of the complicated procedures for accreditation for financial institutions.

“That is why as part of the Africa adaptation acceleration programme, we are supporting financial institutions to understand the rules of the game to get accredited and at the same time develop the proposals. So, here in Ghana, we’re working with the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund to get them accredited.”
Prof. Verkooijen

The Africa adaptation acceleration programme seeks to mobilize $25 billion over five years to be invested in agriculture, infrastructure, and youth development. It is estimated that Ghana requires at least US$1.3 billion to implement its roadmap for climate adaptation, developed together with GCA, by building resilient infrastructure to mitigate the dire consequences of climate change.

The roadmap would allow the country to build infrastructure to supply water, create energy efficiency and expand transportation, and create associated jobs.

Prof. Verkooijen expressed hopes that the accreditation would allow money to flow to Ghana to invest in resilient infrastructure by working with nature, adding, “it does not make sense to build new roads, which will be washed away when the next rains are coming.”

He said while Africa contributes less than 5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts of climate change are felt throughout the continent, resulting in more floods, more droughts, and more storms.

The Green Climate Fund

Besides, Africa is getting less of the resource flow to fight climate change hence the urgent need for African countries to get more resources to invest in adaptation and build resilience.

“There is no alternative than a climate resilience and a climate-smart development pathway because Climate and Development are two sides of the same coin. You cannot develop, grow your economy, and develop jobs without considering the climate risks and the physical risk of droughts, floods, and storms of today and tomorrow. So, this is the only way to go forward.”
Prof. Verkooijen

With over $10 billion, the Green Climate Fund was created a few years ago to support climate-vulnerable countries to get climate finance flowing to them. With respect to market demand, Ghana’s infrastructure ‘financing-needs’ over the 10-year period 2016-2026 are approximately USD 7.3 billion.

Despite international recognition that both mitigation and adaptation efforts are essential, adaptation funding remains a far smaller portion of total climate finance. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimate that by 2030, adaptation needs could reach $300bn per year in developing countries, while the Climate Policy Initiative found that adaptation ‘finance-flows’ reported in 2018 reached only $30bn, of which only 500m was from private finance.