The use of petrol and diesel vehicles will soon be phased- out in Ghana as the Ministry of Transport has served notice to switch to electric-powered vehicles in line with the global net-zero future agenda to mitigate climate change effect.
The Deputy Minister of Transport, Hassan Tampuli said at the Eastern Regional stakeholder’s forum for the National Energy Transition Plan held in Koforidua on Tuesday, March 23, 2022, that, currently, the majority of Ghanaians depend on small to medium size vehicles powered by either petrol or diesel engines.
He said data available at the DVLA shows that out of the 2.8 million registered vehicles as of 2021, 72 percent are powered by petrol engines, 27% by diesel engines, and less than 1% by LPG and other energy sources.
The results of this high dependency on fossil fuels coupled with several factors such as traffic congestion have made the transport sector a net emitter of greenhouse gases.
“The United Nations has made it clear that doing beyond the 1.5 degree Celsius temperate goal will most certainly lead to a catastrophic disaster.
This means that reducing carbon emission alone is not sufficient. We need to go one step further to halt the climate emergency.
He said, achieving a net-zero future requires a coordinated approach touching on any aspect of the national economy. It also means Ghana needs to reform the way energy is generated and used to power the various sectors of our economy.
“Globally, countries are responding to the call for a net zero-emission future. They are also about to close down their refineries. Now if we import our products as we do currently and they decommission them, guest, where we are going to have our fuel from”
Hassan Tampuli said, these development trends have implications on our domestic market “we, therefore, need to align and realign our focus to guarantee transparent, efficient and sustainable development. As a Ministry in charge of transportation, we remain resolute and committed to the promotion of sustainable and environmentally responsive transport system”.
He, therefore, stated that the focus of the Ministry now is mainly on technological shift, away from petrol and diesel fuel to a more benign alternative including importation of electric vehicles for State Transport Corporation (STC) and Metro Mass Transit (MMT).
“We are currently developing an e-mobility policy to guide the deployment and scale-up of electric vehicles in the country. We are also working assiduously to introduce the first-ever powered electric buses, as well as gas-powered buses for public transportation. In this regard, the minister for transport has indicated that the next set of buses that we are going to get for STC, MMT are all going to be electric vehicles. These interventions are likely going to serve as important leverage that is going to set the tone for the global gradual decarbonization of the transport industry”
He said “in the railway sector, government’s massive railway development agenda is on course to linking our major cities by rail. I am informed that visibility studies for the introduction of the metro light train transit system have been completed for Kumasi and Accra. In the aviation sector, several infrastructure face-lift projects are also being undertaken to improve connectivity. At the maritime sector, the ministry of transport is committed to attaining zero carbon emission in deep-sea shipping by the year 2030”.
The Eastern Regional Minister Seth Kwame Acheampong said the transition to renewable energy will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) seven (7) which is “Affordable and Clean Energy for all by 2030.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
