The Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, Issifu Seidu, has stressed that tackling climate change in Ghana requires a fundamental shift in attitudes and behaviour among citizens.
Climate change, he said, is largely driven by human activities and can only be addressed if people become more mindful of their actions.
“Climate change is a behavioural phenomenon. People do certain things and their unintended consequences are visited on others,” he stated.
Speaking to the media in Parliament on Thursday, the Minister argued that to win the climate change battle, people must change their attitude and their behaviour and be mindful of the consequences on future generations.
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Mr. Seidu explained that his mandate as minister is to coordinate climate-related initiatives across various sectors of the economy to ensure a unified national response to environmental challenges.
According to him, climate change affects nearly every sector, making it necessary for ministries to work together on sustainability policies.
The Minister revealed that government has established a technical working group comprising representatives from multiple ministries to help integrate climate considerations into national development efforts.
The team meets monthly to review ongoing initiatives and explore ways of strengthening sustainability measures.
Mr. Seidu further disclosed that several climate initiatives are currently being developed, with many undergoing stakeholder consultations before their implementation.
The government, he said, is exploring ways to build climate infrastructure across the country, from the national level down to district structures.
“Some of the initiatives are now at the stakeholder level where we are looking at how to build climate infrastructure across the country,” he said adding adding that a comprehensive engagement with the media would be held once consultations are completed.
Earlier, the Minister had responded to a parliamentary question standing in the name of Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who sought updates on the progress toward signing a new carbon credit agreement between Ghana and BP.
Mr. Seidu explained that Ghana initiated discussions with BP in 2023 and subsequently exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at establishing a robust framework to provide regulatory certainty for the generation of Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA)-labelled carbon credits.
According to the minister, the engagement has since progressed to the development of a draft Framework Agreement, which has already been technically negotiated between the Government of Ghana and BP.
He indicated that in 2025, the draft agreement underwent a comprehensive legal review by the Attorney-General’s Department of Ghana and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) through its Carbon Market Office.
Mr. Seidu told Parliament that Ghana is currently awaiting a response from BP to enable the two parties advance the process toward the conclusion of the agreement.
On the implementation of bilateral climate agreements, the Minister explained that the ministry is also developing mechanisms to facilitate the operationalisation of signed agreements while ensuring the involvement of the private sector in the validation and verification processes to strengthen Ghana’s carbon market framework.