The Green Tax Youth Africa (GTYA), a revenue mobilization advocacy group, has urged government to adopt innovative strategies to leverage Green Bonds as a tool for mobilising domestic revenue to finance climate action and innovation.
At a validation workshop on Ghana’s Green Bond Guidelines 2024, GTYA outlined four key recommendations: strengthening legal and regulatory certainty, creating a dedicated Green Bond Revenue Fund, introducing targeted tax incentives and penalties to boost demand, and promoting Public-Private-Youth Partnerships (PPYPs).
Professor Nana Ama Brown-Klutse, Chairperson of GTYA and Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stressed that while the urgency of climate action is clear, international financial flows remain inconsistent and insufficient.
She recalled that developed countries under the UN climate accords pledged USD 100 billion annually by 2020, later extended to 2025, but this target was only reached in 2022, two years late.
“The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville failed to deliver binding commitments, leaving Ghana and other developing countries searching for sustainable financing solutions,” she said.
“If we do not take ownership of financing our climate ambitions, we will remain dependent on promises that may never be fulfilled,” she added.
Prof. Brown-Klutse explained that Ghana’s Green Bond Guidelines provide a framework to raise internal revenue without adding to fiscal pressures by linking environmental stewardship with innovative financing.
She emphasised equity in the framework, ensuring that proceeds are channelled into youth, women, and community-led innovations.
She called on government to refine the guidelines into a binding regulatory framework with enforceable standards, clear eligibility criteria, and robust monitoring systems to boost investor confidence and reduce risks.
Proceeds, she said, should be ring-fenced into a national climate innovation fund, supporting renewable energy, sustainable transport, and resilient agriculture.
Highlighting the importance of collaboration, she underscored the role of youth-led innovation hubs, private sector financing, and government-backed guarantees in creating scalable green solutions while strengthening local industries.
Mr. Benaiah Nii Addo, Executive Director of GTYA, added that Ghana could raise at least USD 100 million annually by tightening its Green Bond Guidelines.
He stressed that mobilising domestic resources is now central to Ghana’s development priorities.
“We call on NGOs, academia, stakeholders, and state institutions to support these efforts,” Mr. Addo appealed.
