The Politics of Climate Finance in Ghana; Access, Equity, and the Socio-Economic Implication of the Green Transition

Background: The discourse of climate finance has become a cornerstone in the pantheon of global climate governance, typified by contestations on issues of credibility, equity, and effectiveness.
Objective: This paper explores the politics of climate finance in Ghana through the interrelated issues of access, equity, and socioeconomic consequences.
Method: Within the framework of climate justice, the analysis draws on qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews with policymakers, representatives of civil society, international organizations, and youth advocacy groups and supported by secondary data.
Results: The findings show Ghana to be grappling with the mobilization of funds from several mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund, Climate Investment Funds, and Article 6 carbon markets, yet there are many administrative bottlenecks, with weak institutional capacity undermining access in a meaningful way. The equity issues also exist with climate finance flows concentrating in the south and urban areas, leaving women, youth, and northern communities dominated and marginalized in governance and benefit-sharing. Socio-economic outcomes weave another set of narratives, for on one side projects like the Shea Landscape Emission Reductions Project have improved women's livelihoods and created green jobs, whereas on the other, trade-offs come along with restrictions to charcoal-dependent livelihoods and costly industrial compliance that actually present new risks.
Conclusion: The study argues that climate finance in Ghana reflects both the opportunities for and the tensions of doing an actual green transition delivering co-benefits in renewable energy and resilience yet reinforcing inequalities when badly timed. Policy recommendations are made for strengthening institutional capacity, targeting vulnerable regions and groups, and embedding gender and youth quotas in governance, while livelihood safeguards need to be integrated into project design. By situating Ghana's experience into the broader climate justice discourse, the paper adds to debates on how climate finance can promote not just environmental outcomes but also equity and sustainable development in the Global South.

Climate finance, Climate justice, Sustainable development framework

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