Professor Elvis Asare-Bediako, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), has warned that Ghana’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels poses a significant threat to its energy security, fiscal stability, and environmental sustainability.

He called for urgent reforms and bold investments in renewable energy and stressed that Ghana’s overreliance on fossil fuels was not only economically unsustainable but also environmentally damaging and socially unjust.

Speaking at the ActionAid Ghana Civil Society Forum on “Powering Crisis: Fossil Fuel Investments, Debt and Energy Insecurity in Ghana,” Professor Asare-Bediako said Ghana’s dependence on fossil fuels had become “a heavy coat in a warming world – once protective, now burdensome.”

He described the situation as a national challenge undermining the economy, businesses, and citizens’ wellbeing.

The Vice-Chancellor explained that although Ghana was endowed with abundant solar, wind, and biomass resources, thermal sources powered by fossil fuels accounted for more than 60 percent of its electricity generation.

This dependency, he noted, exposed the country to volatile global oil prices, debt accumulation, and energy insecurity.

“The energy sector faces an annual shortfall of about 1.7 billion cedis, with supplier debts exceeding 68 billion cedis,” he said.

He further stated, “This fragility, coupled with governance gaps, policy inconsistencies, and inefficiencies among agencies such as GNPC, GRIDCo, ECG, and PURC, hampers growth.”

Prof. Asare-Bediako criticized “take-or-pay” power agreements that compel Ghana to pay for energy even when it was not consumed, calling them economically disadvantageous and burdensome.

He urged the government to renegotiate such contracts and redirect resources toward renewable energy.

“The Cash Waterfall Mechanism was a good initiative for transparency, but without full enforcement, it achieves little,” he added, and that “Ghana’s renewable energy target of 10 percent by 2030 should not be a ceiling but a baseline.”

The Vice-Chancellor called for decentralised solar mini-grids to expand access to affordable power, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas, and emphasized the role of universities and research institutions in supporting energy innovation. “

Dr. Charles Gyamfi Ofori, Policy Lead for Climate Change and Energy Transition at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), stressed the need for a more socially sensitive and efficient energy system.

He explained that the use of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) from petroleum revenues had focused heavily on infrastructure, sometimes at the expense of gender, social welfare, and disability-sensitive initiatives.

“We must ask how the projects we fund respond to social needs, how are they inclusive and equitable?” he said.

Dr. Ofori highlighted recent amendments to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) that removed priority areas and reduced funding for the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), warning that this could undermine transparency and oversight in the energy sector.

“PIAC plays a critical accountability role,” he said, adding that “any disruption to its funding affects how citizens can track how petroleum revenues are spent.”

He further called for strengthening net metering and off-grid renewable systems, noting that rooftop solar installations and independent renewable ventures could stabilize the national grid and support the government’s proposed 24-hour economy.

“We must embrace green initiatives and integrate them into our national energy plan,” he urged.

Dr. Ofori warned that the inefficiencies in the power sector, including transmission losses and poor tariff recovery, continue to cost Ghana significant resources that could have been directed toward social development.

“Every cedi spent covering power sector shortfalls is a cedi taken away from education, agriculture, or healthcare,” he said, adding that, “We must allow the sector to operate efficiently as a business to avoid burdening the national budget.”

Mr. John Nkaw, Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, said the organisation and its partners had long been advocating for reforms to make Ghana’s energy sector sustainable and equitable, stressing that “energy is not just an economic commodity, it’s a human rights issue”

He explained that ActionAid’s “Gaslighting Report” had drawn attention to the rising debt crisis within the energy sector, the inefficiencies in gas management, and the problematic take-or-pay agreements with independent power producers.

The Country Director said, “We cannot continue contracting loans and entering agreements that benefit corporations more than citizens.”

Mr. Nkaw welcomed government’s recent announcement of plans to construct a new gas processing facility but cautioned that infrastructure alone would not solve the problem without proper governance, transparency, and gender-responsive energy policies.

He urged government to be more transparent in renegotiating energy contracts and to regularly update citizens on progress, allowing civil society to contribute meaningfully to policy decisions.

Mr. Nkaw also underscored the gendered impacts of energy insecurity, noting that women were disproportionately affected by power shortages and dependence on biomass fuels, stating that, “When electricity is unstable, women travel long distances for firewood, food spoils, and small businesses suffer.”

He called for a gender sensitivity analysis in the petroleum and energy sectors and urged the government to prioritize “people over profit.”