Ghana receives its first payment for emissions reductions

Cape Coast in Ghana (by Joshua Duneebon @ Unsplash )

Following Mozambique, Ghana received payments from a World Bank trust fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation also known as REDD+. The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) paid Ghana $4,862,280 for reducing 972,456 tons of CO₂ emissions for the first monitoring period of the programme

“This payment is the first of four under the country’s Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank to demonstrate the potential for leveraging Results-based Payments for carbon credits,” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. “Subject to showing results from actions taken to reduce deforestation, Ghana is eligible to receive up to $50 million for 10 million tons of CO₂ emissions reduced by the end of 2024.”

Ghana is the second world producer of cocoa, behind Côte d’Ivoire. But its economy has had a serious impact on the country’s forests as cocoa is the main driver of deforestation. Slash-and-burn agriculture is the main technique used in both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and one of the main focuses of international cooperation in these countries is to shift from this traditional approach to climate-friendly, climate-smart agriculture.

Ghana’s emissions reductions programme is obviously linked with its national REDD+ strategy, and it is well-aligned with relevant national policies and strategies, including Ghana’s Shared Growth and Development Agenda, the National Climate Change Policy, the National Forest and Wildlife Policy, the National Gender Policy, and Ghana’s nationally-determined contributions to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The programme covers 6 million hectares of the West Africa Guinean Forest biodiversity hotspot.

_{UN-REDD provided technical assistance to Ghana within the framework of the UN REDD National Programme. The Ghana Forestry Commission has been coordinating this work with the Ghana Cocoa Board, together with involvement of private sector, local communities and traditional authorities. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, the next step is to discuss how the benefit sharing plan is going to be implemented to ensure equitable disbursement of the payment.}