PRESS RELEASE | After the floods: Eight Ghanaian cities pledge to turn climate plans into action

 

TEMA, GHANA — [July 24^th] — Eight of Ghana's coastal and climate-vulnerable municipalities have concluded a landmark two-day workshop last week with a shared commitment: to translate years of climate risk planning into concrete, fundable action — starting now.

 

 

The Urban Adaptation Implementation Accelerator Exchange, convened by the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA), and hosted by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, brought together Mayors and technical officers from Sekondi-Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tema, Keta, Akatsi North, Nanumba South, Kumbungu, and Mion. The workshop comes just weeks after torrential rains devastated Greater Accra on June 29, 2026, killing at least 12 people, displacing hundreds of families, and submerging major roads, homes and businesses across the capital in some of the heaviest single-day rainfall the region has recorded in years.

 

That disaster is a stark and urgent reminder of what is at stake for every city represented at this workshop. Coastal cities such as Sekondi-Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tema and Keta face escalating risks from flooding, sea-level rise and coastal erosion, while inland districts such as Akatsi North, Nanumba South, Kumbungu, and Mion contend with mounting pressure on agriculture and ecosystems. Each of the eight participating assemblies has already completed a Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability Assessment and developed a Local Adaptation Plan — technical groundwork that identifies exactly where their cities are exposed. The challenge now has been turning that planning into implementation.

 

Over two days, participants shared where they have been able to turn planning into action and developed project concepts that can be delivered using both municipal resources and by seeking support from financiers.

 

The Mayors of Tema, Sekondi-Takoradi, Cape Coast, and Akatsi North took part in a dedicated political leadership dialogue and panel discussion on the urgency of local climate action, the importance of communicating climate risk to citizens, and what their own administrations are prepared to commit.

 

The workshop was supported by Strengthening Investments in Gender-Responsive Climate Adaptation (SIGRA), the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), and the C40 Cities Finance Facility (C40 CFF).

 

 

Across the two days, a consistent message emerged from the leaders of these cities: climate adaptation cannot be led by national government alone, and it cannot wait. Local government has to be at the center of the response, because it is local government that answers the phone when the water starts rising. The Mayors were equally clear that they cannot do this alone — active participation from citizens, sustained support from regional and national government, and continued partnership with organizations like CoM SSA, SIGRA, EPA and international financiers will all be essential to turning these plans into resilient, funded, implemented projects on the ground.

 

 

Beyond the workshop itself, CoM SSA is already working directly with several of these cities to convert adaptation planning into tangible, climate-resilient infrastructure. In Tema and Sekondi-Takoradi, CoM SSA is supporting both assemblies to revise their structure plans through a climate lens — embedding greening, nature-based solutions (NbS), and the protection of key waterways and green spaces into how the cities will grow. In Cape Coast, CoM SSA is supporting a co-creation and community engagement process focused on the rehabilitation and protection of the Fosu Lagoon — one of the city's most valuable natural assets, and a resource Mayor George Justice Arthur highlighted during the workshop as central to both the city's ecology and its tourism potential.

 

 

 

 

 

The Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA) is the regional chapter of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, supporting over 400 African cities in advancing climate mitigation, adaptation and access to sustainable energy. CoM SSA is co-funded by the European Union (EU), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and the French Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. The programme is co-implemented by GIZ, AFD, Expertise France, and AECID.

 

John Dogbey, john.dogbey@giz.de, +233559711045