Lack of expertise hurdle to climate action financing

Mr. Sampson Akligoh, Director, Financial Sector Division, Ministry of Finance, says a lack of expertise is a barrier to raising the funds required to promote climate action.He said players within the financial sector are uninformed about emerging capital market trends that could generate capital to fund climate action.Mr Akligoh stated this at the launch of the Green Bond Guidelines, which will make it easier to regulate the issuance of bonds to finance environmental sustainability and climate financing.'I would like to reiterate that a huge stumbling block on the side of the issuer of green bonds is the lack of expertise; it is a new market element.'And on the investor side, we see that most asset managers and pension funds are not well informed about these interesting markets,' he said. Mr Akligoh emphasised that key stakeholders in the financial sector needed to be better equipped to understand the dynamics of sustainable financing for climate action.He said that there was ample evidence of a l ack of capital for governments to develop innovative approaches to tackle the increasing effects of climate change.Currently, Ghana, like most African countries, requires about US$22.6 billion in investments from domestic, international, and private sources to fund climate action.Mr Akligoh said that climate and environmental bonds have emerged as effective means for raising funds and channelling them to initiatives that promote environmental sustainability and resilience.He also praised the Securities and Exchange Commission for establishing the Green Bond Guidelines, stating that they would facilitate the development of a domestic green securities market and maintain the integrity of green bonds.Source: Ghana News Agency