Accra: The Green Tax Youth Africa (GTYA), a non-governmental organisation, has outlined four key measures through which Ghana can leverage Green Bonds to mobilise internal revenue for climate innovation.
According to Ghana News Agency, the recommendations include strengthening legal and regulatory certainty, establishing a dedicated Green Bond Revenue Fund, integrating tax incentives and penalties to drive demand, and leveraging Public-Private-Youth Partnerships (PPYPs). Professor Nana Ama Brown-Klutse, Chairperson of GTYA and Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), announced this at a validation workshop on Ghana's Green Bond Guidelines, 2024. The event was organised by GTYA in collaboration with the International Lawyers Partnership and Norton Rose Fulbright, Australia.
She explained that the urgency of climate action worldwide was undeniable, yet international climate financial flows remained inconsistent and insufficient. She recalled that developed countries under the United Nations climate accords pledged USD 100 billion annually by 2020, later extended to 2025, but the target was only achieved in 2022, two years late.
Prof. Brown-Klutse further observed that the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville failed to deliver binding commitments, leaving Ghana and other developing nations in search of sustainable financing solutions. 'If we do not take ownership of financing our climate ambitions, we will remain dependent on promises that may never be fulfilled,' she warned.
She said the analysis of Ghana's Green Bond Guidelines provided a pathway to raise internal revenue without straining the country's fiscal space by linking environmental stewardship with innovative financing. Importantly, she stressed that the framework emphasised equity, ensuring proceeds from climate investments would be channelled into innovations led by the youth, women, and marginalised groups to benefit local communities.
Prof. Brown-Klutse urged the government to refine the guidelines into a binding regulatory framework with enforceable standards, clear eligibility criteria, and robust monitoring mechanisms to boost investor confidence and reduce risks. Such reforms, she said, would attract both local and diaspora capital.
She also called for proceeds from Green Bonds to be ring-fenced into a national climate innovation fund, with priority areas including renewable energy, sustainable transport, and resilient agriculture. This, she explained, would guarantee transparency, traceability of funds, and effective monitoring of impact.
Additionally, she highlighted the need to harness the dynamism of youth-led innovation hubs, private sector financing, and government-backed guarantees to create scalable solutions while strengthening local manufacturing and service capabilities.
Mr. Benaiah Nii Addo, Executive Director of GTYA, added that Ghana could raise USD 100 million or more annually by tightening its Green Bond Guidelines. He stressed that domestic revenue mobilisation was now critical to national development priorities. 'We call on NGOs, academia, stakeholders, and state institutions to support these efforts,' Mr Addo appealed.
