Guyana, Ghana must balance socio-economic, environmental imperatives – President Akufo-Addo

…says huge potential here for renewable energy

President of Ghana, Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has emphasised the importance of developing countries such as Guyana and Ghana being allowed to exploit their resources to ensure socio-economic benefits for their citizens, but cautioned that this must be balanced with efforts to combat climate change.

The Ghanaian President was at the time speaking during the opening ceremony of the inaugural International Energy Conference and Expo being hosted at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Georgetown under the theme: “Charting a Sustainable Energy Future.”
President Akufo-Addo pointed out that Africa has suffered the most impacts of climate change since many of its economies are susceptible to the global phenomenon and their capacity to withstand the shocks are limited.
While underscoring the need for aggressive, immediate, bold and concrete steps to protect the global climate from worsening, the Head of State said despite being resource-rich, Ghana, like its continental neighbours, has found itself in a conundrum with finding financing to fund its commitments to fight climate change within the prescribed deadline.

“All minerals that are needed to run modern economies are in our continent… The Almighty has blessed our lands with abundant natural resources and we believe it would be wholly unfair for the world to demand that Africa abandons the exploitation of these same resources needed to finance our develop and help us to cope better with the threat of climate change at a time when many countries in the continent has only just discovered them,” he contended.
According to President Akufo-Addo, many of the developed countries have already exploited their resources and it is unfair to expect otherwise from developing countries such as Ghana and Guyana which are in need of the finances to bring prosperity to their people.
To this end, the African Head of State stressed that there must be a balance between fighting climate change and socio-economic development.
“We acknowledge the importance and effects of climate change and the urgent need to combat it, and we acknowledge, equally, the importance of protecting our development. We, however, believe that a balance must be struck and maintained between social and economic, and environmental imperatives…”
“It is of utmost necessity that countries like Guyana and Ghana find ways of bringing their substantial hydrocarbon resources to production and quickly too. We must add value to these resources and not export them in the raw form if we are to transition to the status of developed. The effective management of these resources would determine whether we make it or not.”
The Ghanaian Head of State went on to point out that Africa is energy impoverished, and noted that in order to bridge that gap, a balance of socio-economic development and the environment must come into play.
“To ensure energy sustainability, it is critical that we balance carefully, socio-economic and environmental benefits in a continuously changing world. No energy project, therefore, no matter how high its return on high value – is worth it if the interest of some or majority of the stakeholders are not properly represented, and they are left impoverished and unsatisfied,” the President asserted.
President Akufo-Addo further recalled the development of his country’s own petroleum industry which he said continues to be robust in enhancing both the economy and welfare of citizens. He noted that many other African nations, similarly resource-endowed, have failed to achieve sustainable development from the exploitation of their natural resources.
The Ghanaian Head of state credited his country’s success to the implementation of a number of policies and initiatives to change that narrative.
In fact, Guyana has already benefitted from the experience and expertise of Ghana with the establishment of its Local Content Policy, which was passed in the National Assembly in December. Ghana had played an integral role in assisting Guyana with this piece of legislation.
To this end, President Akufo-Addo outlined a host of ways Guyana can further benefit from the experience of his country in ensuring the judicious exploitation and use of petroleum resources in a sustainable manner.
He called for transparent and proper management of the oil and gas revenues, and to ensure equality for all citizens. Ensuring the petroleum sector remains a significant contributor to the national budget and nationwide industrial development in the future is also pertinent, according to the Head of State.
President Akufo-Addo also urged that Guyana pursue ambitious environmental and resource management policies that can co-exist between the petroleum sector, other industries and environmental considerations as well as maximising benefits of producing wealth from oil and gas by using local resources and services, people, companies and finance in all facets of value chain of the oil and gas industry and retain the benefits within the country.
However, key among his recommendations is for Guyana to diversify its electricity generation mix through the development of renewable energy resources. He noted that Guyana already has “huge potential” in this regard and also to promote energy efficiency.
The Ghanaian President said the two countries must work together to bring a future in which present and future generations of their respective nations will be secured. (G8)