The Forestry Commission has entered into an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with Emergent Forest Finance Accelerator Incorporated (Emergent), a US-based non-profit organization.
Emergent serves as the convenor and coordinator of the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition.
This agreement entails Ghana receiving payments of up to US$50,000,000 for emission reductions amounting to five million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The unit price for each tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent is set at US$10.
Signed on December 1, 2023, during the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), this agreement positions Ghana as the first country globally to sign an ERPA under the LEAF Coalition.
The initiative aims to supply high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ emission reductions and removals credits. Costa Rica also signed a similar agreement with Emergent, valued at Fourteen Million US Dollars (US$14,000,000.00), making these two countries the only ones to achieve this significant milestone.
Launched in April 2021 by the Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Norway, along with leading global companies, the LEAF Coalition is a voluntary global initiative designed to unite companies and governments in providing finance for tropical and subtropical forest conservation. The aim is to align efforts with the scale of the climate change challenge.
The Coalition strives to elevate global climate ambition and contribute to halting tropical and subtropical deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. It seeks to achieve this by ensuring that tropical and subtropical forest jurisdictions have access to large-scale, predictable performance-based finance, enabling them to invest in reduced deforestation and sustainable rural development.
After a Call for Proposals, in which 30 countries participated, Ghana, Nepal, and Ecuador were selected as the first countries to sign a Letter of Intent with the Coalition, marking initial steps toward signing a binding Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) to access funds from the Coalition.
Ghana, becoming the first country globally to sign a binding ERPA, exemplifies the nation’s focused efforts at revamping its forest landscape restoration with sustainability protocols. The ERPA, valued at up to US$50,000,000, will support Ghana in extending climate action beyond its Carbon Fund area.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, emphasized the critical importance of forest and nature-based solutions to climate change. He highlighted how the new agreement complements other ongoing initiatives in Ghana, such as the Green Ghana Project, Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, and the Ghana REDD+ Strategy.
Mr Jinapor called on the global community to collaborate in scaling up forest and nature-based climate action, emphasizing the urgency to address climate change. He acknowledged the support received from the LEAF Coalition and expressed optimism about delivering effective forest solutions to climate change.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Emergent, Mr. Eron Bloomgarden, congratulated Ghana for its achievement and commended the commitment and efficiency of the Ghanaian team in reaching the agreement promptly.
The United Kingdom’s Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, Hon. Graham Stuart, underscored the critical role of halting tropical deforestation in addressing climate change.
The Minister for Climate and Environment of Norway, Mr Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, expressed excitement about Ghana and Costa Rica signing ERPA under the LEAF Coalition. He urged governments and the private sector to increase public and private finance for forest countries, encouraging them to partner with the LEAF Coalition to deliver high-quality forest carbon.
Forest and nature-based solutions to climate change have been prominent at successive COPs since 2021, with the potential to contribute up to a third of global climate solutions.