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Business news for Friday, February 26, 2021
Source: Daily mail
02/26/2021
Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Designated Minister of the Ministry of Transport
The designated minister for the Ministry of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has revealed that Ghana aims to introduce electric buses into its public transport system as part of measures to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Ghana, he said, is being futuristic in this endeavor and with the help of technology, it will achieve its goal.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 for a public hearing on issues related to the portfolio to which he has been appointed by the country’s president, Asiamah said the initiative has been on the drawing board. of the country for a long time. , revealing that it was started by the previous government led by the Democratic National Congress.
Seeing how beneficial it would be for the West African nation, he said the government has had some talks with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Ministry of Finance and has also had some talks with the country’s development partners to request their support in development and implementation. of a legal framework for electric buses.
“Mr. President, you may be interested to know that Europe has issued a directive on this issue that by 2030 they will get their way with all these diesel and gasoline cars on their streets. The Americans are saying the same by 2045, too. They say they are heading towards zero emissions. So we don’t need to stand by and fold our arms. We have gone too far and gone to the Green Climate Fund: we have had some discussions with them, the Ministry of Finance has also had some discussions with our development partners to implement the legal framework for these electric buses and also go down the electric bus path, ”he noted.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was adopted by 194 governments as a financial mechanism for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the end of 2011. Its objective is to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions in countries. developing and help adapt vulnerable societies to the already perceived impacts of climate change. Its aim is to make an ambitious contribution to achieving the mitigation and adaptation goals of the international community with the aim of keeping the planet’s temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.
The Fund provides recipient countries with access to funding through accredited national and sub-national implementing entities, including NGOs, government ministries, national development banks, and other national or regional organizations that can meet the Fund’s standards.
According to Ghana’s Fourth National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, including forestry and other land uses, were estimated to be 42.2 million tonnes (Mt) CO2 equivalent (CO2e). This was 7.1% more than the total emissions of 2012 and, in particular, 66.4% above 1990 levels.
Mobile combustion emissions totaled 7.2 MtCO2e in 2016. It was uniquely responsible for 48% of total energy emissions and 17% of total national emissions. 2016 transportation emissions increased 7% relative to levels reported in 2012.
According to the report, within the transportation category, trucking was the largest source of emissions due to increasing vehicle ownership and associated traffic congestion in cities.
With statistics showing a worrying trend in the transport sector, Hon. Asiamah said the best option to address the situation was to launch electric buses into the country’s public transportation system.
“Mr. President, we have come a long way with our development partners and I hope that once we are done with the legal framework, we will move to the implementation framework by bringing or releasing electric buses into our system. We need to make sure that we go with technology that not that, we will stay behind and we will not have anyone to come to our aid, “he said.
He explained that Ghana’s move is part of the measures as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, to ensure better climate standards are met.
The designated Transport Minister’s comments were in response to a question posed by the Bawku Central Member of Parliament (MP) who tried to find out what he will do to help the Environment Ministry control environmental pollution resulting from public transport.
