Abena Takyiwaa Asamoah-Okyere, Technical Advisor at Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and a key collaborator with the newly established Climate Finance Division, addressed COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
She underscored the urgent need for developed nations to significantly increase financing for climate resilience in developing countries, which are already bearing the brunt of climate change’s devastating impacts.
In her interview with Danish television, Abena Asamoah-Okyere shared her independent perspective on the responsibilities of wealthier nations to help those most affected by climate impacts, particularly in terms of financial support for adaptation.
She argued that developed nations, having reaped economic benefits from fossil-fueled industrialization that caused global warming, have a moral responsibility to fund adaptation initiatives. These include climate-resilient infrastructure, sustainable agriculture featuring drought-, heat-, and disease-resistant crop varieties suited to changing climates, and nature-based cooling solutions to address rising temperatures in urban areas.
“When things go wrong in the economies of developing countries, there is a direct and indirect impact on developed economies,” she stated. “It’s imperative and a moral decision, especially for oil-producing developed nations, to help those who are now facing the brunt of climate change.”
Abena Takyiwaa Asamoah-Okyere advocated for grants, rather than loans, to fund adaptation efforts in developing countries, explaining that adaptation projects, although economically viable, are widely and also erroneously perceived to be commercially unviable, making them unattractive to private investors.
According to her, oil-producing countries and companies should play a central role in bridging the adaptation funding gap by providing grants.
“We’re hoping such grants will help developing economies address perceived risks through robust project preparation, allowing countries to attract low-cost financing needed to facilitate climate resilient growth,” she noted.
Addressing the ongoing negotiations at COP29, Abena Takyiwaa Asamoah-Okyere highlighted the importance of an ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal—the new climate financing objective, and called on developed countries to be ambitious in setting this goal, pushing for significant resources to be allocated toward building resilience in vulnerable regions.
Commenting on the global response so far, she enunciated concerns that not enough has been done, particularly as the world is at the verge of exceeding the critical 1.5°C temperature threshold.
“Until we’re confident that we’re keeping within this limit, we haven’t done enough,” she remarked.
She also discussed the impacts of climate change on Ghana, describing unpredictable weather patterns that lead to severe droughts or excessive rainfall, often with devastating consequences.
“Governments are forced to divert resources from health, education and other critical sectors to immediately address losses and repair damaged infrastructure from climate disasters,” she explained.
Her comments reflect a growing call for ambitious, equitable climate financing to ensure resilience in climate vulnerable regions. These include countries which have contributed least to climate change, and yet are among the hardest hit.
