On the 27th of April 2023, the Executive Director of GCIC, Ruka Sanusi had the honor to sit on a panel at the 14th Edition of the Cal Bank Webinar series, organized in collaboration with the UK Ghana Chamber of Commerce.   

The program focused on the importance of green finance as a tool for achieving sustainability and addressing climate change, and emphasized the need for collaboration, transparency, education, and innovation to ensure that green finance is accessible to everyone and has a positive impact on society and the environment.

Speaking on the panel, she talked about how the GCIC is helping SME’s to adapt and build resilience, saying: 

“SME’s are the highest employer in Ghana and the biggest contributor to the GDP. At GCIC, we are supporting Ghana’s small and growing business sector to be climate-responsive and climate-smart, so that in years to come, when their businesses are the big businesses of tomorrow, their leadership, strategies and operations will already be intentional about sustainability and climate change” 

“What we have in climate change is an opportunity to do things differently.  Currently, every day activities, for example, the way we cool our cars and homes, the fuel we use in our cars, agricultural and farming methods, are all activities that contribute to global warming greenhouse gas emissions. We have to find new ways of doing. And finding new ways of doing gives rises to new opportunities” She added. 

She also emphasized that ‘in years to come, green financing is going to be more than 90% of financing. “It will be more expensive to not be green than to be green.”  

The other panelist at the seminar were Cynthia Mintah, Head, Corporate & Institutional Banking – Cal Bank, Kobina Otu Okyne, Environmental Specialist, The World Bank and Philip Foster Aqua Africa.