Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem said the government must use public and concessional resources to reduce investment risks and attract commercial capital rather than relying solely on the national budget.
“Public finance cannot carry this agenda alone,” Mr. Nyarko Ampem said at the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Regional Dialogue for West and Central Africa in Accra.
He said competing demands across education, healthcare, infrastructure, social protection and economic transformation made it necessary to bring private investors into climate financing.
“Our task is to use public resources to bring other engines on board,” he said.
The approach would involve using concessional funding to prepare bankable projects, improve commercial viability, reduce investment risks and provide guarantees that can give investors greater confidence.
A 2026 assessment cited by the Ghana News Agency estimated that climate finance tracked in Ghana between 2019 and 2020 averaged about US$830 million annually, equivalent to only 5–9% of the estimated annual investment needed to meet the country’s climate targets.
Mr. Nyarko Ampem said the focus should therefore extend beyond the amount of climate finance secured to the investment it can generate.
“We must also ask how much additional investment can every dollar or cedi of climate finance mobilise?” he said.
He described the shift as moving “from disbursement to mobilisation, from expenditure to investment, and from climate finance to development finance.”
Ghana currently has 13 projects in its GCF portfolio, with US$209 million in GCF financing and about US$5.7 million in approved readiness support.
The Ministry of Finance has also positioned the revised Climate Prosperity Plan as a framework for mobilising public, private and catalytic capital. In July, the UK, FSD Africa and the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund launched a £5 million Green Project Preparation Facility to develop investment-ready climate infrastructure projects and reduce project-development risks.
GCF Director for Africa Catherine Koffman said Ghana had taken concrete steps to integrate climate finance into its broader economic transformation agenda, citing the revised Climate Prosperity Plan and Climate-Resilient Investment Platform as part of the framework for mobilising public, private and catalytic capital at scale.
“Under the country’s leadership, Ghana has taken concrete steps to embed climate finance as a strategic pillar of its economic transformation agenda,” she said.
The GCF has committed more than US$20 billion globally, with close to 40% directed to Africa, including US$2.9 billion for West and Central Africa through 80 projects and programmes. GCF Readiness support has also exceeded US$250 million across Africa, highlighting the need for stronger resource mobilisation to match the region’s climate investment requirements.
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