Collaborating for a Just Energy Transition: ActionAid Ghana Hosts Government, CSOs and Communities for National Climate Dialogue

ActionAid Ghana has convened government representatives, civil society organisations, youth groups, smallholder women farmers and other stakeholders for a national policy dialogue on Ghana’s transition to a just and sustainable renewable energy future.

Held under the theme “Transitioning to a Just and Sustainable Renewable Energy Future in Ghana:
Government and Civil Society Perspectives,” the dialogue, held at the Sunlodge Hotel in Accra, examined the opportunities, challenges and policy choices shaping Ghana’s energy transition, with discussions focusing on renewable energy, clean cooking, climate finance, decent green jobs, energy access and the inclusion of vulnerable communities.

The dialogue forms part of ActionAid Ghana’s broader advocacy for climate and economic justice, with a focus on ensuring that the transition to cleaner energy does not deepen existing inequalities or create new economic and social vulnerabilities.

Opening the event, the Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, John Nkaw emphasised that Ghana's Just Energy Transition  means ensuring that the transition is affordable, creates decent green jobs, protects livelihoods and is financed in ways that do not deepen Ghana’s debt vulnerabilities. We must seize the opportunity to build an energy future that is cleaner, more inclusive and sustainable, while ensuring that no community is left behind.”

Examining the civil society perspective, Dr Charles Gyamfi Ofori of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) spoke on “Transitioning from Fossil Fuel Dependence to Just Renewable Energy: Issues, Approaches, Challenges and the Way Forward.”

He challenged civil society organisations to strengthen collaboration and collective advocacy around a just renewable energy transition, emphasising the need for coordinated efforts to influence policies and ensure that Ghana’s energy transformation delivers broad-based benefits.

For Mr Sylvester Bagooro of Third World Network, the question of a just transition is closely linked to Ghana’s economic and negotiating power.

He called for stronger economic leverage to enable Ghana and other African countries to secure fairer climate finance and derive greater value from their natural resources.

“We need economic power to bargain for climate financing. Our regional mineral plan must build sustainable bargaining power to counter negotiations. Trade policy must be fair and right. We need to change the terms of our mineral trade,” he said.

His intervention also highlighted the need to examine the relationship between Ghana’s mineral resources, the emerging demand for transition minerals and the country’s broader development and trade policies.

The opportunity for jobs, health and social benefits

Representing the Ministry of Energy, Dr Robert Sogbadji highlighted the potential social and economic benefits of Ghana’s energy transition.

Among the potential benefits cited were 1.4 million direct jobs, 48,218 premature deaths avoided through improved air quality, and 30.05 million hours gained for women’s unpaid care work.

These potential gains demonstrate that the energy transition is not only an environmental issue but also a development opportunity, with implications for employment, public health, household wellbeing and gender equality.

However, participants stressed that these benefits will only be meaningful if the transition responds to the realities of communities and people whose lives and livelihoods are directly affected by energy and climate policies.

Putting communities and women at the centre

Bringing a grassroots perspective to the dialogue, Madam Ruzah Tarsor, a smallholder women farmer group leader from Upper West region, emphasised the importance of meaningful participation by vulnerable groups in decisions concerning Ghana’s energy future.

Her contribution underscored the need for women, smallholder farmers, young people and other communities that are often disproportionately affected by climate and economic pressures to have a voice in policy processes.

For ActionAid Ghana, participation is central to the meaning of a just transition.

In his setting-the-context remarks, Justin Bayor Esq, Head of Programmes, Campaigns and Innovation at ActionAid Ghana, noted that the shift to renewable energy should not be viewed simply as a change in the source of electricity.

“An energy transition is not automatically a just transition: changing the source of power does not, by itself, change who participates in decisions, who has access, who finds decent work, who loses a livelihood, or who ultimately pays.”

He further highlighted disparities in electricity access, noting that while household access to electricity for lighting increased from 43.8 percent in 2000 to 86.3 percent in 2021, access remains uneven, with urban household access at 95.2 percent compared with 72.6 percent for rural households.

Financing the transition without deepening debt

The dialogue also placed significant attention on the question of how Ghana can finance its energy transition without creating new debt vulnerabilities.

ActionAid Ghana's position is that the quality and terms of climate finance matter as much as the volume of resources mobilised.

Referencing ActionAid’s 2026 flagship report, Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows, Mr Bayor highlighted the relationship between climate vulnerability, debt repayments and constrained public investment.

The report points to a cycle in which climate impacts can increase borrowing needs, while high debt servicing costs reduce the fiscal space available for climate action, resilience and essential public services.

Against this backdrop, participants considered the implications of relying heavily on debt-creating instruments to finance Ghana’s transition and discussed the importance of accessible, predictable and equitable climate finance.

ActionAid Ghana has pursued these issues through its Fund Our Future campaign and related advocacy on fossil fuel financing, debt justice and climate finance. Its recent work has called for greater access to grant-based public climate finance and a fairer international financial architecture, while recognising that appropriately structured concessional finance can have a role where investments generate predictable returns or savings.

What kind of energy transition does Ghana want?

A transition that is just must consider not only how quickly the country moves towards renewable energy, but also who participates, who benefits, who bears the costs and whose voices shape the decisions.

For Ghana, this means ensuring that renewable energy is accessible and affordable; that workers and communities have opportunities to participate in emerging green economies; that women and young people are meaningfully included; and that the financing of the transition does not undermine the country’s ability to invest in essential public services and climate resilience.

The dialogue also reinforced the importance of stronger collaboration between government, civil society, communities, development partners, the private sector and other stakeholders in shaping practical and inclusive solutions.

As Ghana advances its energy transition, ActionAid Ghana maintains that the pathway to a cleaner energy future must also be a pathway towards greater equity, economic justice, decent livelihoods and stronger community participation.

At the conference, participant established that transition, therefore, is not simply about changing how Ghana produces energy. It is about building an energy future that works for people and the planet.

The conference drew participants from Civil Society groups, Youth Activists from Activista Ghana, Young Urban Women's Movement, Smallholder women groups from Tamale, Upper East, Upper West, Greater Accra and Bono regions, Government Institutions, the media and other development organisations.

Written by Jacqueline Parditey.