This is a result from UNDP’s proj­ect to promote climate smart agricul­ture in rice cultivation, in Ghana.

Ghana is the first country glob­ally, to launch a project and issue an authorisation statement for the trans­fer of mitigation outcomes as part of cooperative approaches under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

According to a UNDP Ghana statement issued in Accra yester­day, the bilateral agreement allowed public and private institutions to collaborate to invest in climate change mitigation interventions in Ghana and exchange carbon credits with Switzerland for payment, while maintaining the development benefits in the country.

The transfer authorisation was announced at a side event at the ongoing Climate Change Confer­ence (COP 27) in Egypt, when the government officially presented a formal authorisation letter to the UNDP, which has facilitated the bilateral agreement between Ghana and Switzerland.

“Ghana’s leadership in Africa on carbon finance with the landmark bilateral agreement with Switzerland is something we are proud of.

“We want to leverage this collaborative approach to crowd in more carbon revenue to accelerate the implementation of our national climate plan for the benefits of many communities,” Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) was said to have stated at the side event.

According to the statement, the authorisation was in line with the guidance of cooperative approaches referred to in Article 6 paragraph 2 of the Paris Agreement and Gha­na’s Mitigation Framework for the Mitigating Activity titled “Promotion of climate-smart agriculture practic­es for sustainable rice cultivation in Ghana”.

The letter confirms that the In­ternationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) will represent mitigation from 2021 onward span­ning through the implementation period of Ghana’s Nationally Deter­mined Contribution (NDC).

“I congratulate Ghana for for­malising its bilateral agreement with Switzerland to transfer carbon credit resulting from our project to pro­mote climate smart agriculture in rice cultivation,” noted Dr Angela Lusigi, the UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana.

During the side event at the COP27, Ghana showcased how pioneering voluntary cooperation approaches under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement will enable the reduction of carbon emissions, while advancing progress on the Sustain­able Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries.

Beyond emissions reductions, climate mitigation projects can in­deed directly yield many development benefits including job creation, sup­port to livelihoods and food security.

Article 6 of the Paris Agree­ment acknowledges that countries can pursue voluntary cooperation in the implementation of their climate plans known as Nationally Deter­mined Contributions (NDCs) to allow for higher mitigation ambition and to promote sustainable develop­ment.

The Ghana climate-smart rice project will support the training of over thousands of rice farmers, cov­ering nearly 80 per cent of Ghana’s rice production in sustainable agricul­tural practices, leading to significant methane emission reductions.

The intervention will also provide extra income through carbon revenue to farmers for increased resilience and improve efficiency of water use.