By James Amoh Junior
Accra, Oct. 04, GNA – Ghana’s ambition to have cleaner energy is no longer about whether it should happen, but how to finance it without burdening future generations.
The Ministry of Energy and Green Transition estimates Ghana will need more than $500 billion to achieve net-zero by 2070. That puts finance at the centre of its long-term energy strategy.
Yet concern is growing about the quality and cost of that finance. The debate is shifting from mobilising money for renewables to whether financing terms will expand access, create jobs and build local industry without worsening debt.
It is at the heart of a “just” transition – one that tackles climate change while fairly sharing benefits and costs.
At a National Policy Dialogue on “Transitioning to a Just and Sustainable Renewable Energy Future” in Accra, organised by ActionAid Ghana, government, civil society and energy experts offered differing views on navigating that challenge.
For Mr John Nkaw, Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, “just” must go beyond environmental gains.
It must answer who participates in decision-making, who benefits, and who bears the cost. Workers, women, youth and affected communities must shape the process, he said, while clean energy should improve access, affordability and livelihoods.
The financing picture is more complex.
ActionAid’s 2026 report, “Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows”, found the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries spend far more on debt servicing than on climate action.
Its analysis of 54 vulnerable countries showed $304.8 billion spent on debt servicing in 2026, against $12.3 billion on climate action – almost 25 times more.
Debt servicing consumed about 65 per cent of their national revenues – nearly four times spending on education, seven times health spending, and six times social protection.
For Ghana, the finding is a warning, not a direct measure of its transition financing. It raises a central question: how can governments fund climate investments when debt already competes with development spending?
Mr Nkaw said the issue was not just attracting finance, but what type, on what terms, who benefits and its impact on debt.
Cost of transition
Mr Seth Mahu, Director, Renewable Energy and Green Transition at the Ministry, admits the $500 billion requirement is huge, but argues the transition is not just a burden.
It offers opportunities for energy security, affordability, industrial growth and jobs if well implemented, he said.
Renewables are targeted to account for 10 per cent of installed capacity by 2030, 26 per cent by 2040, 27 per cent between 2050 and 2060, and 20 per cent by 2070 as nuclear and thermal expand. The 2070 target translates to about 21,000 megawatts.
As of mid-2026, Ghana had 342.5MW of installed renewable capacity – utility-scale, rooftop and stand-alone – about six per cent of the generation mix, according to Mr Mahu.
Among current initiatives is a Solar Street Lighting Programme targeting 125,000 units. Procurement has started for 30,000 units covering about 1,000km of roads, expected to save 8.28 million kWh annually. Full rollout should save over 34 gigawatt hours.
Government is also using renewables to close access gaps. Eight mini-grids have been commissioned, connecting over 15,000 people, while 35 more under construction will connect over 70,000 in island and lakeside communities.
The plan is to build over 200 mini-grids by 2030 to achieve about 99 per cent electricity access.
The revised Renewable Energy Master Plan targets over 1,400MW of renewables by 2030 and over 5,000 solar home systems for remote areas. Implementation of net-metering has started with 3,600 smart meters and an online application portal.
Beyond panels
For Dr Charles Gyamfi Ofori, Policy Lead for Climate Change and Energy Transition at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the challenge is not just installing renewables.
Ghana must treat transition as an economy-wide development agenda, not a Ministry of Energy task alone, he said. It is financial, trade, industrial, gender and social development.
That means integrating it into everyday decisions – for instance, designing schools, kitchens and markets so waste becomes feedstock for waste-to-energy, and using segregation to create value chains.
The goal, he said, should be cutting emissions while building the domestic economy, otherwise Ghana could meet climate targets with technologies that create value elsewhere.
Ghana may not manufacture all solar components, but can capture other segments – aluminium for mounting structures, and recycling materials from end-of-life panels.
He cited ethanol as a value chain that links farmers, factory workers, engineers and transporters.
The question is not whether every component is made locally, but how much of the value chain is retained domestically.
Financing the opportunity
Mr Mahu said the Renewable Energy Fund was creating fiscal space, while the Ministry plans to work with financial institutions, development finance institutions and multilateral banks to mobilise capital.
Bioenergy could create over 300,000 jobs across nurseries, plantations, processing and transport. The Ministry estimates 335,000 jobs by end of decade if Master Plan targets are met.
If renewable investments cut energy costs, boost productivity, build industry and create jobs, they can strengthen the base for servicing obligations.
If heavily reliant on expensive external borrowing with equipment and expertise imported, benefits will be limited.
That is where ActionAid’s concerns intersect with Dr Ofori’s local content argument.
ActionAid said the Global South will pay about $8.8 trillion in debt repayments in 2026, compared with about $39 billion in grant-based climate finance from the Global North in 2024.
It advocates more grant-based climate finance and reform of the international financial architecture, while acknowledging concessional finance can help where returns are predictable.
Making it just
Success will go beyond megawatts.
Ghana has improved electricity access for lighting from 43.8 per cent in 2000 to 86.3 per cent in 2021, but the gap persists: 95.2 per cent urban against 72.6 per cent rural.
For remote households, renewables may mean first reliable power; for businesses, lower costs through rooftop solar and net-metering; for farmers, solar irrigation beyond rainy seasons.
The Ministry is exploring this through the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, including solar for irrigation and portable solar pumps.
The challenge is keeping such interventions affordable while ensuring local participation.
Ghana’s transition to 2070 will test more than commitment to renewables. It will test whether it can mobilise billions without undermining fiscal stability, secure finance on development-friendly terms, and use transition to build industry, jobs and access.
The measure of success will not be capacity installed alone, but who manufactures equipment, who provides services, who gets jobs, who gains affordable power, and whether financing strengthens or weakens the economy.
Going green is not just about changing energy sources, but about what kind of economy that new energy will power.
GNA
Reporter: James Amoh Junior
Reporter’s Email: [email protected]
Edited by: Samuel Osei-Frempong