Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has reaffirmed the country’s strong commitment to promoting clean cooking anchored on its 2030 agenda of 50 per cent of its population having access to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Dr. Prempeh was speaking at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Clean Fuels Solutions for Cooking Event, which was part of the 2nd Middle East Green Initiative on the margins of the ongoing COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.
The event was under the patronage of His Royal Highness Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Minister said Ghana’s strategy for clean cooking is to improve the efficiency of cooking fuel production, transportation to markets, value addition and promotion of efficient end-user technologies.
He said by the end of 2030, Ghana would reduce the use of firewood and charcoal for cooking to below 30 per cent which would improve its overall carbon footprint.
He added that the country would also increase access to LPG for household use to 50 per cent from the current 36.9 per cent and provide LPG for commercial catering, particularly in schools and other government institutions.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh said as the demand for clean cooking solutions is growing, there is a need to turn attention to the efficient exploitation of the natural resources that are required for the clean cooking ecosystem.
“We need effective coordination and transparent accounting systems to unlock the enormous carbon financing opportunities and drive investment into the clean cooking sector,” he said.
The current disruption in the global supply chain due to COVID-19 and other geopolitical challenges, according to the Minister, makes it imperative to bring clean cooking interventions closer to markets.
He, therefore, called for the need to develop local capacity along the entire value chain to support the catalytic growth of the clean cooking industry globally.
“Ghana is building capacity through several technical cooperations including the GIZ-TVET, the Senior High Schools Renewable Energy Challenge which has triggered interest in research and development and innovation in renewable energy and clean cooking solutions for the Ghanaian market and beyond. With support from the World Bank, Ghana is developing the National Clean Cooking Strategy and Investment Prospectus to provide the framework for the promotion and development of the industry,” he said.
He continued, “Ghana, with support from the World Bank, successfully launched the result-based National LPG Promotion Programme on September 6, 2022.
“The objective of the programme is to provide government interventions that would accelerate the switch from unclean fuels to LPG in a bid to achieve the goal of 50 per cent access by 2030.
“The government will distribute about two million LPG stoves and install LPG cooking systems in institutions that cook on a large scale under this programme. These interventions complementing the Cylinder Recirculation Model will enable Ghana to reach its targets aforementioned.”
Dr. Prempeh indicated Ghana’s readiness for cooperation and partnerships to scale up Ghana’s National LPG Promotion and Improved Cookstoves Promotion Programmes.
Dignitaries at this function included Dr Baomintsvotse Vahinals, Chief of Staff at the Office of the President of Madagascar, H.E. Ibrahim Yacoubou, Minister for Energy and Renewable Energy of Niger, H.E Sophie Gladima, Minister for Energy and Petroleum of Senegal and a host of other dignitaries on the African continent.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
