Ghana at risk of missing 2030 methane emissions target, AMA warns, as stakeholders push for more funding and waste separation

Ghana risks missing its target of cutting methane emissions from the waste sector by 30 percent by 2030, officials of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) have warned, citing funding shortfalls and weak waste collection.

The warning came on Wednesday at the Accra LOW-M Institutional and Climate Finance Roundtable at the Africa Regent Hotel in Accra. The event was organised by the AMA and the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and C40 Cities. It brought together the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Environmental Protection Agency and its Ghana Carbon Markets Office, the private sector and informal waste workers.

Victor Kotey, the AMA's Climate Change Focal Point, said the country was off track.

"Looking at the trajectory, if we don't put a lot more effort into this, we may not be able to achieve the 2030 [target]," he said. "If you are not getting the right investment in the right quantum, it will be very difficult to achieve this."

He said the Assembly would not be able to implement about half of the 20 priority actions in its 2020–2025 climate action plan, largely because of a lack of money.

The warning comes a week after the United Nations Environment Programme's annual Emissions Gap Report found that if current policies continue, warming could reach 2.8°C within this century, with methane emissions heading in the opposite direction of what countries agreed to.

Ghana is among the countries backing the Global Methane Pledge, under which signatories work towards a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Ghana's waste sector commitments under its Nationally Determined Contributions include building three landfills with 50 percent methane recovery, doubling the country's waste-to-compost capacity, and building 200 biogas facilities.

Methane is produced when organic waste rots without oxygen in dumpsites and landfills. Engineer Godfred Fiifi Boadi, Head of Climate Action, Sustainability and Partnerships at the Ministry of Local Government, said that “over 20 years it is 60 to 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide”.

Desmond Alugnoa, Africa Programme Manager of GAIA, said Africa as a whole is falling short. "I must admit that we are not doing as much as we could," he said, adding that the money committed and the political will do not match what countries have promised.

The roundtable centred on the Accra LOW-M (Lowering Organic Waste Methane) Portfolio, a plan to turn organic waste into compost and biogas instead of sending it to landfills. Accra aims to collect at least 50% of organic waste separately by 2030, and to divert at least 30% of organic waste by 2040.

Fathia Selasi Charway-Glover, Project Coordinator on GAYO's Zero Waste Cities Project, said more than 55 percent of Accra's waste is organic, and the plan depends on separating it at source.

"We need the bylaws, we need the institutional backing from governments to ensure that this is possible," she said.

Ing. Boadi said government is building more facilities to get waste to the right places for treatment. "There is also some innovations that have been announced by the Minister for Local Government with regards to the construction of additional final disposal site facilities across the regions, and also quite a number of waste transfer stations," he said.

Mr Alugnoa said cutting food waste would also make a big difference. "If we are able to avoid the tonnage that is coming from those places by conserving our food and ensuring food security, we are also going to achieve much of our climate targets," he said.

Mr Kotey urged households to stop dumping and burning waste. "Please pay for waste collection services and make sure your waste is collected and properly treated," he said.

Ms Charway-Glover said everyone has a part to play. "If you cook and you feel like, oh, I don't want to eat this tomorrow and you throw it away, you are part of the problem," she said. "And so as we are part of the problem, it is the same way we need to be part of the solution."

The roundtable is expected to produce a six- to 12-month action plan for the portfolio, naming the institutions responsible for each task and setting out how it will be financed.