Mr Akwasi Opong-Fosu, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), said the Government of Ghana is taking steps to implement Green Economy policies in the country.

He said Ghana had developed a national Sustainable Consumption and Production programme, which took conservation measures and programmes, such as the ban on the importation of incandescent filament lamps and the implementation of the Refrigerator Energy Efficiency project.

Mr Opong-Fosu said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Director of MESTI, Dr Sylvester Animana, at a National Workshop to launch the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) in Ghana.

The launch is sponsored by MESTI, in collaboration with the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization, United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nation Industrial Devlopment Organization and the United Nation Institute of Training and Research.

He said in the latest budget statement, Government had taken steps to implement the environmental fiscal policy reform in Ghana, and that, the country is also participating in the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the European Union to stop illegal logging.

Mr Opong-Fosu said Ghana had already undertaken a scoping study to review economic assessments and policy options for the transition to green economy in Ghana, which was undertaken with the support of the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), through a joint programme on green economy, which makes a strong case that the potential benefits of green economy in Ghana are substantial.

He said Ghana stands to benefit from significant economic, environmental and social gains by shifting major investments to green in the key economic sectors of the country, and that, the priority key sectors for green economy initiatives should be in line with the vision and aspirations of the National Climate and Environment Policies that were recently launched.

Mr Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, noted that, the objectives of the workshop were to make a case for green economy in Ghana to a wide range of stakeholders, to identify with local stakeholders on how PAGE could support the efforts of Ghana to transform to a more inclusive Green Economy within the wider objective of achieving a (higher) middle income economy.

He said PAGE is also to build an enabling condition in participating countries by shifting investment and policies towards the creation of a new generation of assets, such as clean technologies, resource efficient infrastructure, well-functioning ecosystems, green skilled labour and good governance.

Mr Ricketts said the key aim for a transition to a green economy is to promote economic growth and investment, while increasing environmental quality and social inclusiveness, and these will in turn lead to sustainable development.

He said critical to attaining such objective, is to create conditions for public and private investments to incorporate broader environmental and social activities, in order to achieve greater social inclusion, and to enhance the natural basis for wealth creation, sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction.

Mr Ricketts-Hagan said Government is dedicated to a realistic transformation of policies, which seeks to achieve the green economy objectives, reflected in the different energy-related programmes, most notably is the increasing energy renewable in the energy mix and the increasing energy access.

"These interventions have resulted in significant reduction in energy consumption in Ghana".