The Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation has underscored the importance of putting women central in energy transition issues for the eradication of poverty.
According to Kwaku Afriyie, challenges associated with women’s empowerment can be overcome by exploiting energy opportunities.
“If you take poverty for example, especially in Africa, a lot of it can be traced to energy issues. It is the most opportune time to use this energy transition issue to address women’s issues”, he said.
He shared his views at the 23rd Gender Summit organized by AIMS Ghana and Portia Limited, UK.
The 4th Gender Summit Africa explored Africa’s energy transition and the Green New Deal with gender in focus.
It is established that women are more likely to fall into energy poverty since they are the main users and producers of household energy.
The High-level Ministerial Panel comprised policymakers in Africa and other parts of the world.
About 30.5 million hours are expected to be saved with the introduction of cleaner fuel in Ghana.
By the National Energy Transition Framework, Ghana is aiming at decarbonizing the energy sector by 2070.
With an investment of 562 billion dollars, new measures will be introduced in the country’s energy mix, including increased renewable energy penetration and conversion of thermal plants to natural gas.
Deputy Minister of Energy, Herbert Krapa, speaks about efforts to achieve targets of the framework.
“We are distributing cylinders for free. We have a policy to distribute five hundred thousand clean cookstoves for free and we have hit the last phase”, he explained.
The European Union’s representation at the Summit assured of its willingness to aid Africa to achieve its targets in the area.
The Economic Community of West African States and the Gender and Equity Unit at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum in Senegal were represented.
The discussion focused on strategies and partnerships for sustainable green transitions in Africa.