Ghana leads the way in carbon emission reductions

The transfer of goods and services is a long-standing trade practice very common to just about anyone. However, imagine a country having to transfer carbon credits earned from the reduction of emissions to help one or more countries meet their climate targets? This is a bit puzzling, right?

Well, with the support of the UN in Ghana, led by UNDP, Ghana is leading the way when it comes to innovative collaborations for climate action. The Governments of Ghana and Switzerland have signed a bilateral agreement on climate trade, making Ghana the first country in Africa and the second country globally to bring the cooperative approaches of the Paris Agreement to life.

Under the agreement, Ghana is implementing a climate-smart rice project. Covering nearly 80 percent of Ghana’s rice production, the project is supporting thousands of rice farmers, like Opanyin Kojo Eyiah, to adopt a technology that will lead to significant methane emission reductions.

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the Minister for Environment, Science Technology and Innovation had this to say, “Ghana’s leadership in Africa on carbon finance with the landmark bilateral agreement with Switzerland is something we are proud of. We want to leverage this collaborative approach to crowd in more carbon revenue to accelerate the implementation of our national climate plan for the benefits of many communities”.

This is how this innovation works. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change allows countries to voluntarily cooperate with each other and trade in greenhouse gas emission reductions. What this means is that a country can transfer carbon credits it has earned from the reduction of emissions to help one or more countries meet their climate targets. The aim is to help countries achieve emission reduction targets set out in their national climate action plans.

“I spend so much time irrigating my rice farm and have just little control over the water I use. We are really looking forward to fully adopt the new rice farming technology to conserve more water and improve our yields”, says Opanyin Kojo Eyiah who is also a rice farmer in Okyereko, in the Central Region of Ghana. Opanyin Kojo Eyiah has been growing rice for the past 10 years. He has a two-and half-acre rice field and is one of over 7,000 rural rice farmers benefiting from the climate smart-rice project. As part of the project, farmers are receiving training so that they can adopt an alternate wetting and drying technology in rice cultivation. The farmers receive support in the form of drainage facilities, along with training on how to use them to control irrigation. In this way they use water efficiently on their rice fields to reduce methane emissions.

Research shows that by 2050, millions of hectares of currently irrigated lowland-rice cultivations will experience water scarcity due to the flooding irrigation method. What most farmers like Opaynin Kojo Eyiah didn’t know is that flooded water on the crop field prevents oxygen from penetrating the soil. This produces ideal conditions for bacteria known as methanogenic archaea to flourish. The methanogens subsequently emit methane gas into the atmosphere, causing 1 million premature deaths every year. The longer the flooding lasts, the more those bacteria multiply.

Moses Kodjotse, a Rice Field Operations Manager at Asutuare-Kpong in the Eastern Region of Ghana described the training as insightful.

“A lot has been learnt from the training and from here I am going to pass on this information to the farmers I work with, so that we can become more effective in water efficiency management and be climate conscious”, Mr Kodjotse noted.

The intervention under the climate-smart rice project is expected to result in an emission reduction target of 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030. This will also provide extra income through carbon revenue to farmers for increased resilience.

Ghana’s drive to realize Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement is groundbreaking and has attracted additional partnerships from Singapore, Sweden and other private-sector entities who have now demonstrated interest in investing in low-carbon technologies in the country. The UN remains committed to supporting the country’s efforts to accelerate climate action.