Ghana Presses China and Africa to Turn Green Pledges Into Real Projects

Ghana has urged China and African countries to move faster in converting their climate and green development promises into projects that can attract finance. It said the partnership should be judged by what it actually delivers to communities.

Seidu Issifu, Ghana's Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, made the appeal on Wednesday, 11 November 2026. He was speaking at a high-level meeting at the Ghana Pavilion during the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, as first reported by Citi News.

The meeting's theme was "Shared Future, Shared Prosperity". Discussions centred on linking Climate Prosperity Plans with the Green Belt and Road Initiative. Participants also looked at putting the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) into practice through investment pipelines at country level.

Mr Issifu said Ghana treats climate action as an investment in its own development, not as a form of aid.

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"For Ghana, climate action is not charity; it is a strategic investment in our future," he said. He added that it offered a chance to speed up industrialisation, create jobs, improve energy security and build a stronger economy.

According to the report, Ghana welcomed China's pledge under the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan for 2025 to 2027 to back 30 clean energy and green development projects across Africa. However, the minister said implementation was now urgent, with the plan entering its last year.

"The true measure of our partnership must be our ability to translate these commitments into bankable projects, mobilised finance, and tangible development outcomes," he said.

He pointed to Country Platforms and Climate Prosperity Plans as important tools for this work. He explained that these frameworks help governments set development priorities, assemble credible lists of investment-ready projects and link them with funders, technology providers and implementing partners.

For Ghana and other African states, the Green Belt and Road Initiative could draw investment into renewable energy, infrastructure that can withstand climate shocks, sustainable industry and green technology, the minister's remarks indicated. He called on partners to make sure such investment matches African countries' own priorities and builds local skills and capacity.

Mr Issifu also set out elements of Ghana's wider approach to climate finance. The country is implementing its Nationally Determined Contributions, preparing a National Green Finance Taxonomy and improving coordination between institutions to raise climate funding.

Ghana further stressed the need for affordable finance and sustainable debt levels, especially for countries vulnerable to climate change that are trying to grow their economies while dealing with its effects.

The minister restated Ghana's support for practical cooperation between the Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20 and the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition. He insisted that African countries must lead decisions on their own development.

"Above all, let us ensure that African countries remain at the centre of defining and driving their own development pathways," he said.

He concluded that the partnership's success should ultimately be assessed by the number of projects developed, the investment raised, the jobs created and the resilience built in communities.