Former Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Bank Ghana, Alhassan Andani, has called for the introduction of a standard system that measures banks or financial institutions’ collective compliance with climate action goals.
“We need to have a standard that measures not just compliance with financial numbers but financial institutions. We must have a standard that measures the collective compliance with this climate action goals, as we individually finance firms to achieve this. We should have a broad view which is being monitored either by a regulator or some kind of industry agency so that we can get the impact of what we doing at the firm level,“ he said this virtually at the 2022 Accra SDG Investment Fair.
According to him, approaching it on individual firm basis will not be useful, arguing that “how will banks or finance houses have a portfolio review that says that for all of us involved in the extractive industry, for instance gold, this is our position on what we should see happening to every industry or firm within that sector. If we looking to energy generation, this is our global position otherwise it comes to the micro level analysis of a credit officer and an amount is given.”
Mr. Andani also urged banks and financial institutions to pool resources as recommended under the SDG Delivery Fund to make it more impactful investment whether in quality water, air and river beds.
Government has already approved the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which has some 47 adaptation and mitigation measures on climate change and embodies efforts by countries to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Already, Ghana is facing the impact of climate change and requires between US $9.3bn and US $15.5 billion of investment to implement climate interventions from 2020 to 2030 to build resilience for the protection of vulnerable communities and ecosystems.
The two-day virtual fair aimed at increasing investments in green enterprise development as a sustainable pathway to climate resilient growth in Ghana.
The event saw high panel discussions on sustainable financing to promote green enterprise development, as well as the transition to a low carbon economy by exploring the opportunities in green jobs investment.
Dubbed the “Accra SDGs Investment Fair 2022,” the event also discussed the opportunities for investors and project developers at local level implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The event held under the theme,“Investments in Green Enterprise Development: The Sustainable Pathway to Climate Resilient Growth” was also used to launch the 2021 SDGs Budget Report.
Business24