The Chief Executive Officer of Private Enterprise Federation, PEF, Nana Osei Bonsu has disclosed the readiness of the Private Sector to partner stakeholders in finding workable solutions to climate change issues in Africa.
Speaking at the 'Africa Climate Week, Ghana's Nationally Determined Contributions Investment Forum' hosted by the United Nations Development Programme on March 18 in Accra, Nana Osei Bonsu said the Private Sector is an enterprise that looks for opportunity and they are ready to explore the avenues in the climate change sector and also help solve the issues from the area.
"Private sectors always look for opportunity and this is what I call green field, these are climate change pattern and analyses and business investment, and so private sector is very enthusiastic in participating and taking the initiative to do but they are risks inherent in deeds and debts and what is are scared of is the unavailable of the risk mechanism, unavailable long term funding and unavailable legal framework that is available in case the private sector starts and how do we protect their assets insolvency angel to recoup and come back."
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According to him, government needs to create the enabling environment that will protect the investment of the private sector and assured them of the possibility of recouping their funds in term of the lost investment.
"So the enables are things that are preventing the private sector not taking the initiative, so what we looking at is having this kind of dialogue, the information dissemination for government to also see from the private sector perspective that these are tools that we can put in place, sometimes is finance sometimes is technical skills the competencies that will allow us drive this kind of thing......., so the private sector is very much interested."
Addressing the issue of sustainability in case all stakeholders come together to fight climate issues he said: "It has to be a value chain approach, ones it ends this way it becomes a raw material based for the other, so those are the kind of tools we looking at makes it going to the market place to see who is doing the processing and what are the waste materials for the processing used to create energy and how can the energy seeks to create the technological patch, so these are value chains that we can link, it has to be an integrated effort, climate change is not in an isolation, need to be an integrated effort on the part of all the players, government creating the enablers private sector having the technical skills and competencies to analyse and take the initiative and then invest in it the investment options that allow us to do what we need to do."
Taking his turn to address participants, Vice President of IMANI Africa Kofi Bentil said to be able to takle this climate issues they must be the political will to deal with the various.
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According to him, activists can analyse and make recomendations but it soley lies on the government to take actions in terms of dealing with the situation.
He added that as most indepedent state organisations, the Environemtal Protection Agency, EPA, must be independent to in taking stance that will be in the interest of the country and not in the political authority.
Present at the event was the Deputy Minister of Environment Science and Technology Patricia Appiagye, she advised stakeholders to take congnisance of the gender factor in the solutions being proposed to make all solutions gender sensitive.
About AfricaClimateWeek
In 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal and legally binding agreement, called Paris Agreement, to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. The agreement requires all Parties to outline their commitments in the form of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and to accelerate these efforts in the years ahead.
In this regard, the Regional Climate Weeks have been instituted prior to the Secretary General’s Climate Summit, to provide encouragement to the implementation of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement and climate action to deliver on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Ghana is to host the 1st Regional Climate Week on 18-19 March 2019 at Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
The NDC Investment Forum, supported by the UNDP NDC Support Programme in Ghana, aims to catalyse private sector investment, and financial as well as substantive support from all relevant stakeholders to help Ghana implement its climate committments. This Forum will showcase proven climate solutions to attract private investment, present investment-ready climate NDC projects and introduce entry points for the private sector to engage in NDC actions.
www.primenewsghana.com/ Ghana News