Mrs Patricia Appiagyei, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, said Ghana sees finance as implicitly linked to the implementation of nationally determined contributions NDCs, which are required to mitigate climate impact.
She said there was also the need for increased financing for accelerated climate actions to achieve the SDG goal 13, thus, exploring common grounds that seek to build mutual trust and equal partnerships between the developing countries and the developed countries.
She has therefore, called on the developed countries to be more committed and also increase their financial ambitions as their obligation toward addressing the devastating effect of climate change.
Speaking at a high-level Ministerial meeting held alongside COP24 in Katowice, Poland, Mrs Appiagyei indicated Ghana’s agreement with the common position of Africa to the effect that the discussions on the NDCs should first conform fully to the convention, and secondly, respect the differentiation between the developed and the developing countries.
Ghana also supports the need to build on the standing Climate Convention obligations, particularly, relating to means of implementation, which would enable developing countries, particularly Africa, to fully participate in the global efforts to achieving the conventions objective with regards to both mitigation and adaptation.
The Deputy Minister said Ghana holds the view that the Ministerial discussions should equally cover mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building, and transparency and should be gender responsive.
She urged all countries to be mindful of the key elements in the deliberations of the multilateral platform, and reiterated the call for the need for a rulebook that was forward looking and result oriented.
She emphasized a strong leadership and drive to achieve the Paris Agreement.
Mrs Patricia Appiagyei, said COP24 was an opportunity for the world to secure a habitable globe for the youth and the generation to come.
Other Ghanaian officials who spoke at the various levels of COP 24 deliberations included Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, who spoke extensively on Ghana’s preparation towards the introduction of electric buses in the transportation sector, which emit 47 percent of emissions in the country.
COP 24, which opened on Monday Dec 3, comes to a close on Friday, December 14, with some civil society actors, expressing disappointments at how some of the developed countries, who emit more greenhouse gases, were dragging their feet towards meeting their financial obligations towards, mitigation, loss and damage, and technology transfer.
Mr Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), said the issue of equity, just transition, climate justice and principles of transparency as well as participatory negotiations were very critical to be addressed.
He later told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that “we feel that there is no progress- the issues which bought us here- issues of finance, technology, adaptation, loss and damage have all been thrust by the COP Presidency”.
He however, said Africa would continue fighting the climate issues since it hinges on their survival.
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GNA
