By Sulaiman Jalloh
The ministry of finance through the Climate Finance Unit in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and partners, has on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, spearheaded a Carbon Market Policy Framework for Sierra Leone in a workshop held at Freetown City Council building, Wallace Johnson Street Freetown.
Making his opening remarks, Sellu McCarthy, the Head of the Climate Finance Unit, said some Countries have failed in managing and trading their carbon assets because of the lack of proper policy and legal framework to guide them in implementing climate change issues, noting the carbon policy framework is critical to the overall road map for national climate change legislation the Ministry of Environment is developing.
Delivering her keynote address, Madam Kadie Allie, the Deputy Minister of Finance 1, pointed out that Sierra Leone has updated the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of 2021, which commits to reducing greenhouse gas emission levels to 5% by 2025 and 10% by 2030, 25% by 2050 through unconditional and conditional measures, saying to deliver on these goals, the Nationally Determined Contributions will cost about $2.8 billion dollars for the full implementation and that the government is committed to mobilizing domestic financial resources to fund projects in the NDC.
The deputy minister noted that while the Ministry is seeking international financial support to achieve their targets, the government intends to use different climate finance resources including international carbon market mechanisms and cooperative approaches citing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. “It is in this context that the Ministry of Finance requested financial support from UNDP to develop a national carbon market framework to facilitate Sierra Leone’s readiness for carbon market opportunities under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement” she stated, while acknowledging the lack of an explicit strategy to guide and monitor the flow of green finance into the Country, hence it has given rise to uncoordinated green financing activities around the Country between partners and government agencies as well as with some NGOs who are beneficiaries of green financing.
She uses the occasion to thank UNDP and all other players in the Climate Sector and committed the government of Sierra Leone to strengthen the legislative framework around forest protection and other environmental related issues to leverage climate finance from forests, including carbon credits, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
Speaking on behalf of the United Nations’ Development Program, Tanzila Watta Sankoh said the UNDP is committed to supporting countries like Sierra Leone to address climate change and promote sustainable development, noting Carbon pricing and markets are critical tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Madam Sankoh also mentioned that putting a price on carbon can incentivize businesses and individuals to reduce their emissions and invest in clean energy solutions. “Sierra Leone, like many countries, is already experiencing the impacts of climate change, including more frequent and severe droughts, floods and other extreme weather events,” Madam Sankoh stated, while encouraging all stakeholders to actively participate in developing the Sierra Leone Carbon policy framework.
Mr. David Bathalomew of Invest Salone joined other speakers in the workshop to emphasize the importance of collaboration around climate change issues. He thanked the Ministry of Finance and partners for organizing the ‘important’ workshop to develop a framework to guide the work of Climate change issues in the African Country
Copyright –Published in print in Expo Times Newspaper on Friday, June 14th , 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
