The increasing cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is becoming a threat to Ghana’s quest to achieve zero net emissions by the year 2070. Enoch Jengre, Programs Officer at the Legal Resources Centre, said the government of Ghana has made certain mechanisms for the transition of renewable energy available to all.
This includes the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the National Energy Transition Framework (NETF), which was launched in 2022 to achieve net zero emissions by 2070 while solving energy poverty and lifting millions of Ghanaians out of poverty.
According to Mr. Jengre, the NETF that is being implemented focuses on critical energy sectors: power, cooking, oil and gas, transport, and industry.
But the Programs Officer at the Legal Resources Center is of the view that the high cost of LPG gas makes it impossible for rural folks to purchase, and that may pose a threat to Ghana’s goal of achieving zero emissions by the year 2027.
“Can we have a country in which our women and youth who gather firewood would not stop gathering firewood because we might have passed through that system to the use of electric stoves and LPG?”
“But the challenge that we currently face is the cost of these things. The cost that we have to incur, especially my mother in the village, to buy LPG gas is very expensive. Almost every month, the cost keeps increasing. So, how can we as stakeholders join forces together not only to compliment government but also to be on government to ensure that things are minimised for, we the citizenry”,
He was speaking to the media in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region during an awareness creation on climate change and energy transition
LRC, the human rights non-governmental organization, is advocating for citizens to be ambassadors for achieving zero emissions, which have a devastating effect on the environment and human lives.
“Citizens should start to do it from their homes; let’s drive less; possibly, let’s walk if we can. Bush fires—they all contribute to the negative impact of climate change. Can we ensure that our homes are distilled? Let’s lobby the government. When an MP comes to seek re-election, let’s ask them what they are doing to protect the environment”
Alhaji Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director of Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment (RISE)-Ghana, during a presentation on climate change and its impact in Ghana, was worried that the situation poses a threat to food security in the country.
“Just look at the Upper East Region, for example. May is about to end, yet some farmers are yet to prepare their lands for cultivation. Probably the farmers are reluctant because the rains are not in. And this is as a result of climate change. When this happens, early millet is affected”
Alhaji Awal therefore admonished citizens to shun human activities such as bushfires, tree cutting, and environmental pollution, among others, that contribute to climate change and its effects.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga|Ghana
