Chibeze Ezekiel understood the looming danger after the Ghanaian government announced the construction of a 700-megawatt coal power plant in the country’s central region.
The plant, which would have been Ghana’s first, promised jobs and social projects, and appealed to many in a country with high poverty and unemployment levels.
But the risks were significant: watercourses and air would be polluted, land would be degraded, and thousands of lives would be put at risk. A new port the authorities planned to build to serve the coal plant would displace residents. Ezekiel knew it was time to act.
“We did not just bring in emotions or feelings, we made a clear case, providing facts and evidence on why clean energy will be better for people in Ghana,” Ezekiel, at the time a barely known environmental activist, told Pluboard.
For months, he rallied young people and met with locals and explained in clear detail the dangers of the coal project. He presented photos and videos showing the impact of similar projects elsewhere, and explained why renewables were a better option.
In 2016, a year after the initial announcement, the Ghanaian authorities cancelled the coal project. For steering Ghana’s energy future away from coal, Ezekiel won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2021, becoming one of few Africans to win the prestigious prize, dubbed the Green Nobel Prize. Nigerian lawyer Chima Williams won the prize the same year for working with local communities to hold Royal Dutch Shell accountable in the aftermath of disastrous oil spills in the Niger Delta.
Years after halting a major carbon-emitting project, Ezekiel says Africa has not done enough to tackle its many environmental problems, amongst them climate change. Africa’s first-ever climate summit which held in Nairobi, Kenya, in September to seek financing against climate change was hijacked by “industry players” and did not yield expected African solutions, he said.
“Unfortunately, it seemed it is business as usual,” he said.
Africa and climate change
Despite its low contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, Africa is the most climate change-vulnerable continent. Seven of the 10 countries most at risk to the impacts of climate change are in Africa.
The region faces increased flooding, drought, crop reduction, malnutrition, hunger, conflict, and displacement. By 2030, high water stress could affect 250 million people in Africa. Increased temperature has reduced agricultural productivity growth in Africa by 34% since 1961, more than any other region in the world.
The Nairobi declaration, which will be the basis of Africa’s negotiating position at COP28 in the UAE, proposed a new financing mechanism to unlock climate funding, including global taxes. Kenya’s President William Ruto announced a total of $23 billion in pledges to support green energy, agriculture, and adaptation projects.
But environmental campaigners like Ezekiel say the summit failed to chart Africa’s direction towards an equitable and sustainable future that protects people and communities, and to prepare a coordinated front from African leaders to call for a fast and fair phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP28.
Discussions at the summit focused more on the well-criticised issues of carbon market and green growth, ideas canvassed more by corporate interests, they said.
“It wasn’t an African led conference, it was more of industry players or people with their own interests. It was more like the industries were influencing the whole process,” Ezekiel said.
He said suspicions that discussions will be “skewed towards a particular angle” were confirmed.
“We saw a number of such events around carbon market, carbon trade and all that and this stuff being pushed by industry players,” he said. “And, true to our concerns, when the declaration came out, it was all about phasing down on coal and fossil fuel, as against phasing out.”
Dirtiest fossil fuel
Ezekiel, 40, has for over a decade rallied Ghana’s youth around environmental sustainability and climate change issues. He is the national coordinator of 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon (350 GROC), an affiliate of the environmental nonprofit 350.org. Ezekiel also established the Strategic Youth Network for Development, with the objective of harnessing the power of youth to drive environmental and social change in Ghana.
The coal plant project was proposed by the Volta River Authority and Shenzhen Energy Group in 2013 as a response to Ghana’s energy problem. It was intended for construction in Aboano, a coastal fishing community in Ekumfi district, and the China Africa Development Fund offered a $1.5 billion financing. To address Ghana’s lack of coal reserves, a dedicated port was planned for importing 2 million tons annually from South Africa.
Despite generating 38% of the world’s electricity, coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel, and contributes significantly to climate change and other environmental problems. In Ekumfi, a poor Ghanaian district with limited access to fresh water, the proposed plant posed serious health and environmental risks to thousands of residents.
The coal plant’s wastewater, ash pit, mercury emissions, and sulfur dioxide emissions posed serious health and environmental risks, including acid rain. Nevertheless, for a community where about half the population is poor, the plant also held hopes for jobs and economic opportunity.
After learning of the plan to build a coal project in 2015, Ezekiel and his team at 350 GROC began checking with the community to know if they were fully informed of the project’s details, and if they were considered for compensation for their land. They collected photo and video evidence and avoided government attention at first.
“Fortunately, the community had concerns, fears, or worries that they brought. Unfortunately, they didn’t know how to address or who to talk to. So when we came in there, they saw us as allies they could rely on, so we had a majority,” Ezekiel told Pluboard.
During the visits, his team found that the locals did not have full understanding of the project, and that a local chief the government worked with, had received personal benefits without involving them. “We got a unanimous response from the community people,” he said.
The team launched a campaign to raise awareness regarding the risks associated with the coal plant. They worked with grassroots youth organizations, held media interviews, social media campaigns, and published opinion pieces on coal and Ghana’s energy future.
Ezekiel bolstered his presentations to local leaders and with visuals of coal’s harmful environmental impacts in other communities and effects on people’s health. He also drew comparisons with renewable energy sources as a superior alternative.
When the authorities formally pitched the local communities on the proposal in 2016, claiming that the plant would be clean and safe for residents, community members questioned their assertion. Months later, the government announced that the coal plant would not be built. In 2017, President Nana Akufor-Addo announced that new power projects would only be renewable energy-based.
“It was more intellectual conversation; we did not just bring in emotions or feelings. We made a clear case, providing facts and evidence on why clean energy will be better for people in Ghana,” Ezekiel said.
“So, we were not seen as enemies, or people who are against development, because we provided some alternatives.”
More environmental problems
Ghana faces other environmental problems. The country has lost over 90% of its forest cover since the 1950s due to urbanization and agriculture. Land degradation, air and water pollution are also major problems, and a chief culprit is mining.
In 2023, the Ghana Water Company reported that over 80% of the country’s water bodies was polluted. Authorities say foreign miners, mostly Chinese, exploit poor locals to extract gold, causing widespread environmental damage. They often bribe local officials to turn a blind eye to their illegal activities.
To respond to the problem, Ezekiel’s team has worked to introduce young people to other sources of livelihood.
“It is practically impossible to stop illegal mining, but what we can do is to reduce the practice; we can shift young people to other forms of livelihoods as against over-dependence on illegal mining,” he said.
The group’s innovative approach to environmental issues is to develop a youth-led search for solutions in Ghana.
Instead of taking to the streets, Ezekiel and his team lead young people to create green solutions they long to see, without waiting for state agencies or government or policymakers.
This means training young entrepreneurs to convert organic fuel or waste into other products, and supporting them to upscale their businesses. It also means teaching young farmers safe and harmless agro-ecology practices.
“It is a clean business, it is creating employment, and also promoting climate solutions,” Ezekiel said.
In early October, the group organized a green entrepreneur’s forum to bring together young entrepreneurs to exhibit their goods.
Ezekiel and his team are also working closely with the government as it tries to shift from natural gas to thermal energy.
Getting like minds
The $100,000 Goldman Award came to Ezekiel by surprise, but it now bolsters his case when he encourages others to join the green campaign.
“I tell my colleagues that, you know, because I was not expecting any award from anywhere, it was about fighting for the environment, putting more effort and my little contribution, and somebody has seen what I’m doing to be very significant and then he awarded me, that is great,” he said.
“So what it means is for other young people to put in more effort and fight for their own agenda; they can either one way or the other get a recognition or their reward.”
The team seeks new advocates from tertiary institutions, especially those studying environment-related courses, by using clubs or hubs and demonstrating the possibilities ahead. So far, that has worked.
“We showcase them numerous opportunities in the space. We had about six team members initially working as staff, but today we are 20 all because of the available opportunities,” he said.
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