The Forestry Commission, under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, has signed Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with Emergent Forest Finance Accelerator Incorporated (Emergent), a US-based non-profit organisation that serves as the convenor and coordinator of the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition.
The agreement will see Ghana receiving payment of up to $50 million for emission reductions of up to five million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, at a unit price of US$10.00 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The Agreement, which was signed on Friday, on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), made Ghana the first country, globally, to sign ERPA under the LEAF Coalition for the supply of high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ emission reductions and removals credit.
At COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, signed a Letter of Intent on behalf of government.
Subsequently, the Minister inaugurated a committee, chaired by the Deputy Minister responsible for Lands and Forestry, Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, MP, to work towards securing a binding ERPA.
Speaking at a ceremony at COP28 in Dubai on Sunday, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, said the signing of the Agreement was a further testament to Ghana's focused efforts at revamping her forest landscape restoration fortunes with the right sustainability protocols.
According to Mr Jinapor, this new agreement will complement other interventions being implemented to halt climate change, such as the flagship Green Ghana Project, the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, and the Ghana REDD+ Strategy.
Ghana has already received result-based payments of more than US$4.8 million, under the Ghana Cocoa REDD+ Programme, and is implementing the Ghana Shea Landscape Restoration Programme with support from the Green Climate Fund.
The Minister said the new ERPA will help Ghana extend climate action to areas beyond her Carbon Fund area.
He called on the global community to come together to support actions towards forest restoration and protection. "The time to act with speed and effectiveness against climate change is now.
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"The time for partnership and collaboration in ramping up forest and nature-based climate action is, indeed, now.... Let us, therefore, get on with this noble undertaking to save our planet," Mr Jinapor said.
On his part, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Emergent, Mr Eron Bloomgarden, congratulated Ghana for the feat chalked.
The United Kingdom's Minister of Energy Security and Net Zero, Mr Graham Stuart, speaking on the transaction said halting tropical deforestation is critical to tackling climate change, and the commitment of forest countries like Ghana to protect natural ecosystems is commendable.
On his part, the Minister for Climate and Environment of Norway, Mr Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, said he was excited for Ghana and Costa Rica signing ERPA under the LEAF Coalition, and called on governments and the private sector to ramp up public and private finance for forest countries to partner with the LEAF Coalition to deliver high quality forest carbon.
