By: Christian Kpesese
Ghana has officially launched the process to revise its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), marking the start of a comprehensive stocktaking exercise to inform the country’s next climate action plan under the Paris Agreement.
The initiative, unveiled at an inception workshop in Accra, represents a major milestone in Ghana’s efforts to enhance its climate commitments in line with Article 4.2 of the Paris Agreement, which requires all parties to prepare, communicate, and maintain successive NDCs every five years.
The stocktaking exercise will assess progress made in implementing Ghana’s 2021 updated NDC (NDC 2.0) and use the findings to design the next phase of national climate actions.
Guided by the outcomes of the Global Stocktake (GST), NDC 3.0 will aim to be evidence-based, ambitious, and aligned with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), the review will update Ghana’s climate targets from 2030 to 2035, consistent with the agreed global common timeframe, while raising the ambition of national commitments to attract scaled-up climate finance.
The process will also identify and address policy, technology, and financial barriers to implementation, strengthen institutional capacity, and ensure climate actions are fully integrated with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The inception workshop brought together representatives from government agencies, civil society, the private sector, academia, and development partners to review progress, share lessons learned, and identify priority areas for policy reforms, investment, and capacity building.
A presentation on the Stocktaking Assessment of Ghana’s 2021 NDC (NDC 2.0) outlined the methodology, stakeholder engagement approach, implementation status of the 47 priority actions, alignment with the SDGs, and the roadmap for developing NDC 3.0.
The assessment emphasized the importance of inclusivity, financing, and institutional strengthening in shaping Ghana’s next climate strategy.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Abdul-Razak Saeed, Head of the Environment Cluster at UNDP Ghana, reaffirmed the UN agency’s continued partnership with Ghana under its Climate Promise initiative.
“UNDP Ghana, together with the broader UN family, is working under the #ClimatePromise initiative to support Ghana’s government in aligning its NDCs with the 1.5°C target and SDGs,” he said. “We reaffirm our commitment to producing comprehensive NDCs that are economy-wide, cover all gases, and adopt a whole-of-society approach.”
The inclusive and consultative approach adopted by Ghana underscores its strong climate leadership and commitment to sustainable, low-carbon growth. Officials say the stocktaking exercise will provide the evidence base for NDC 3.0, ensuring that Ghana’s next set of climate targets are both nationally relevant and globally aligned.
Through this process, Ghana aims to chart a long-term, low-carbon, and climate-resilient development pathway, a key step toward achieving its vision of a green and sustainable future.
