The Minister of State responsible for Climate Change and Sustainability, Seidu Issifu, has called for Ghana’s climate response to place stronger emphasis on adaptation, community engagement and behavioural change.
He said climate action was not only an environmental concern but a key driver of economic growth, poverty reduction and national security, and must therefore be treated as a central national development priority.
Mr Issifu was speaking at the Climate Talk Dialogue 2025, organised by the German Embassy.
He urged government agencies, institutions and local communities to integrate climate considerations into planning and decision-making, stressing that effective climate action required collective ownership at all levels.
The Climate Talk 2025 examined a range of thematic areas, including clean cooking solutions, the use of indigenous knowledge in coastal resilience, green industrial practices, sustainable railway transport, the impact of climate change on women and children, and artisan-led electric mobility innovations.
Mr Issifu said Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement were structured around three key pillars, adaptation, mitigation and a just transition to renewable energy.
He noted that Ghana had set ambitious national targets, including achieving 30 percent renewable energy penetration by 2030, alongside social protection interventions aimed at safeguarding vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.
The Minister disclosed that government is currently developing NDC 3.0, which would extend Ghana’s climate targets from 2030 to 2035 and significantly increase the country’s level of ambition.
“The NDC 3.0 will outline 76 action points, with 60 focused on mitigation and 16 on adaptation,” he said.
Mr Issifu said climate change is largely driven by human behaviour, making public education, decentralised communication and community engagement critical to achieving lasting impact.
He stressed the importance of taking climate conversations to the grassroots level and communicating in local languages to promote ownership and sustained action.
As part of efforts to strengthen climate governance, he said government planned to establish a National Climate Change and Sustainability Hub to coordinate policies, data and stakeholder engagement.
Mr Issifu noted that Ghana had made measurable progress under the NDC framework, achieving a 43.4 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and expanding participation in the international carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
However, he identified climate finance as a major constraint, estimating that about $22 million would be required to fully implement the NDC 3.0 targets.
Mr Felix Addo Okyere, a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), described the Climate Talk initiative as a vital platform for inclusive dialogue among government, development partners, civil society, the private sector and citizens.
He said Ghana’s updated NDC aimed to create more than one million green jobs, improve air quality and positively impact nearly 35 million people, adding that achieving these outcomes would depend largely on international cooperation, climate finance and technology transfer.
