The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, through the Forestry Commission, has formalized a groundbreaking Emission Reduction Payment Agreement (ERPA) with Emergent Forest Finance Accelerator Incorporated (Emergent), a non-profit organization based in the United States.
Serving as the convenor and coordinator of the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, Emergent will facilitate the payment of up to Fifty Million US Dollars (US$50,000,000.00) to Ghana.
This payment is in recognition of emission reductions amounting to five million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, valuing each tonne at Ten Dollars (US$10.00).
Signed during the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on December 1, 2023, the agreement marks Ghana as the inaugural country globally to sign an ERPA under the LEAF Coalition.
This collaboration ensures the supply of high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ emission reductions and removals credit.
Notably, Costa Rica followed suit and inked a deal with Emergent, totaling Fourteen Million US Dollars (US$14,000,000.00). This positions Ghana and Costa Rica as the only forest countries to achieve such a remarkable feat.
The LEAF Coalition, initiated in April 2021 by the Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Norway, along with global companies, is a voluntary coalition aiming to provide finance for tropical and subtropical forest conservation.
By raising global climate ambition and contributing to halting deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, the coalition ensures that forest jurisdictions have access to large-scale, predictable, performance-based finance for reduced deforestation and sustainable rural development.
Ghana, Nepal, and Ecuador were initially selected after a Call for Proposals involving thirty countries. After the technical screening process, they became the first countries to sign a Letter of Intent with the Coalition.
Minister Samuel A. Jinapor of the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources signed Ghana’s Letter of Intent at COP26 in Glasgow, subsequently forming a committee to secure a binding ERPA.
This historic ERPA will complement Ghana’s ongoing efforts to combat climate change through initiatives such as the Green Ghana Project, the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, and the Ghana REDD+ Strategy.
Ghana has already received over US$4.8 million under the Ghana Cocoa REDD+ Programme and is implementing the Ghana Shea Landscape Restoration Programme with Green Climate Fund support.
Minister Samuel Abu Jinapor emphasized the urgency of global collaboration to address climate change, citing the importance of forest and nature-based solutions. The ERPA will expand Ghana’s climate action beyond its Carbon Fund area.
Emergent’s Founder and CEO, Mr. Eron Bloomgarden, lauded Ghana’s commitment, making it the first African nation to sign such an agreement, expressing optimism in delivering forest solutions to climate change.
UK’s Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, Graham Stuart, acknowledged the critical role of halting tropical deforestation in addressing climate change.
Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen of Norway commended Ghana and Costa Rica’s ERPA under the LEAF Coalition, urging increased public and private finance for forest countries in collaboration with the Coalition to deliver high-quality forest carbon.
Forest and nature-based solutions have been central to successive COPs since 2021, contributing significantly to global climate solutions.
