CEOs Advisory Group Meets Akufo-Addo On Plans To Boost SDG Implementation

The CEOs Advisory Group on the implementation of the SDGs met with President Akufo-Addo to present tangible initiatives that the Group seeks to champion to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The CEOs Advisory Group was borne out of the CEOs Breakfast Meeting on the SDGs hosted by President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in July 2018.

The Group is made up of eight (8) CEOs and captains of industry in Ghana, and their cardinal objective is to identify a core set of practical and joint actions that the CEOs can undertake in support of the national SDGs efforts, develop innovative financing solutions in support of SDGs implementation, and to lead CEO’s advocacy towards creating the enablers for achieving the SDGs.

In their presentation to the President at Jubilee House, the Group highlighted six Goals as core focus areas that should drive the private sector’s contribution to the SDGs. These are Quality Education (SDGs Goal 4), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDGs Goal 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDGs Goal 7), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDGs Goal 8), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDGs Goal 9), and Responsible Production and Consumption (SDGs Goal 12).

The CEOs Advisory Group announced its intentions to establish an SDGs Delivery Fund, which will pool together a significant proportion of the private sector’s Corporate Social Responsibility budget in support of SDGs action.

The Group also declared its commitment to establish a Private Sector-led Green Fund in Ghana, with a target of GHC1 billion over 5 years, as a source of innovative financing to meet the SDGs agenda. A key objective of the Green Fund is to drive change and transition individual, private and public sector institutions from traditional to renewable sources of energy. The Fund will target rural renewable energy initiatives and specific environmentally sustainable projects.