The Government is not footing the travel bills of the 350 delegates attending the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt.

Mrs Cynthia Asare Bediako, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MESTI), told the Ghana News Agency that majority of the delegation, consisting of state and none-state actors, were funded by development partners.

“It is the responsibility of MESTI to coordinate and register persons attending the annual meeting. This does not mean the government is sponsoring all of these delegates. Delegates traveling on government’s ticket are not many,” she said.

“Their funding is sourced from different agencies, including Global Environment Facility- UNFCCC, World Bank, Climate Vulnerability Forum, UNDP and UNICEF. These agencies also sponsor some government of Ghana officials to participate in the conference,” she said.

COP27 is the meeting of countries to take action towards achieving the world’s collective climate goals under the Paris Agreement and the Convention.

Building on the outcomes and momentum of COP 26 in Glasgow last year, the nations are expected to demonstrate at COP 27 that they are in a new era of implementation by turning their commitments under the Paris Agreement into action.

The conference is from 6th to 8th November, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Responding to the question of the high number of delegates, she said but for inadequate funding, Ghana required “many people to participate in the many technical negotiations at the annual conference”.

“The more people attend the conference the better it is for Ghana because they will learn and understand the issues. They will then support the implementation of the climate plans.

“The COP is also a platform to raise funds and forge partnerships for technical support. We need more technical hands to help,” she said.

At the Pre-COP Press Conference on Thursday, 3rd November 2022, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the Minister of MESTI, explained that out of a total of 322 people attending, 226 were from government institutions.

About 72 were non-state actors and 24 from Climate Vulnerable Forum.

“Half of the number on the government platform are NGOs and partner institutions,” he clarified.

“Therefore, the actual government staff attending the COP is about 150.

The people attending this will be participating in diverse programming, including negotiations, workshops, side events and bilateral meetings,” he said.

Ghana is said to require between US$ 9.3 and US$ 15.5 billion of investment to implement the 47 nationally determined contribution measures from 2020 to 2030.