Assembly Members engaged on Just Energy Transition

Assembly Members at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly have been engaged on energy transition as part of capacity building program to keep them informed and also to seek feedback.

The stakeholder engagement was done by Robert Amiteye, Coordinator of AbibiNsroma Foundation.

Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy is critical in an industrial city like Tema which has two oil refineries in the metropolis. The refineries remain the heartbeat of Ghana's economy. Ghana's oil production is vital for the growth of it gross domestic product. However, with unstable global oil prices and exchange rates fossil fuels like imported refined oil make the cost of commodity production high to industries. The high cost is often passed on to the consumer.

Pollution from the use of fossil fuels as a contributor to carbon emissions was mentioned as one of the associated challenges. As part of the Sustainable Development Goals, countries are determined to commit to clean green energy for production and consumption.

Ghana has a target to improve its energy mix with renewable solar power generation. It was evident that the local legislators needed more information on the subject of transitioning from fossil fuels to clean green renewable energy.

The concerns included the availability, easy access and affordability of renewable energy technologies to meet the daily needs of society.

The Assembly Members who are local legislators at the district level agreed that transitioning to clean renewable energy would be in the best interest of Tema's growing economy. Tema being Ghana’s foremost industrial hub still has the capacity to host renewable energy technology production companies. Local production with value addition to our natural resources such as the newly discovered lithium which is vital in the renewals energy chain would create job opportunities and help to add value to the local currency.