Ghana committed to reducing carbon emissions – Energy Minister
The Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh says Ghana remains committed to reducing carbon emissions pursuant to its commitment to the the global climate agenda.
He said these efforts are within the broader context of Ghana’s blue-print towards achieving net zero. Dr. Opoku Prempeh made this assertion whilst contributing to a panel discussion on the main stage and margins of the 2023 Africa Climate Summit which opened on Monday September, 4, 2024 in Nairobi Kenya.
In attendance was the Second Lady, Samira Bawumia.
Energy efficiency
Touching on the role of energy efficiency in Africa for the development of affordable, clean energy system for the future, the Minister who is also Member of Parliament for Manhyia South highlighted Ghana’s prioritization of energy efficiency which dates back to 2005. “This is when we launched the appliance standards and labelling regime to date where we have passed legislations to back same,” he said.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh indicated that the lighting retrofit led to savings of 124MW with 6000 CFLS deployed to replace 6000 incandescent lamps.
Cooling appliances
He said the implementation of Standards and Labelling for cooling appliances in Ghana from 2010-2020 yielded 10,159 GWh (10.16 TWh) of electricity savings nationally.
He stressed that Carbon dioxide emissions were also reduced by 6.32 million tonnes within the same period. “This is a major improvement in Ghana’s carbon footprint fulfilling SDG 7(affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy) and SDG13 (climate action)} and thereby making the future net-zero pathway a reality”.
Clean cooking
Dr. Opoku Prempeh also mentioned that currently, 63% of the population have access to clean cooking with 35% being LPG access, 27% improved biomass cookstoves and 1% representing electric cooking.
“Government has supported the distribution of over 1.5 million improved biomass cookstoves since 2021 and currently supporting the distribution of another 500,000-biomass improved cookstoves” he said
Government policies and interventions, he said have positively impacted on the clean cooking market, keeping it on track for investments, scaling up and commercialization.
The sector he reiterated has gained attention and attracting key global players due to the new vision of the Ministry of Energy anchored on government’s commitment to achieve the SDG 7, Nationally Determined Contribution, and the quest to transition to net zero.
