Mr Hastings Chikoko,  Regional Director for Africa at C40, a network of mayors working to confront the climate crisis has paid a courtesy call on the Mayor of Accra, Hon Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey to strengthen relations between C40 Cities and the City of Accra. 

The C40 Regional Director who was accompanied by the  C40 Deputy Regional Director for Africa, Ms Gifti Nadi and City Advisor for Accra, Ms Josephine Agbeko, also used the opportunity to connect and establish a relationship with Accra's first female  Mayor and discuss climate change priorities and objectives of the city of Accra.

Mr Chikoko in an introductory remark assured of C40's support towards the implementation of the Accra Climate Action Plan (CAP) as well as the Inclusive Climate Action focused on promoting stakeholder collaboration for waste optimisation.

He also touched on the C40 Finance Facility (CFF) which seeks to finance climate change mitigation and resilience projects in urban areas by providing technical assistance to develop cities’ sustainability priorities into bankable investment proposals adding a  team from C40 would embark on a due diligence mission to Accra as part of the second stage assessment of the Assembly's application. 

C40 Regional Director  also expressed concerns over the poor quality of air in Africa and assured of  C40's commitment to supporting cities to address air quality issues. 

Mr Chikoko cited the Breathe Global initiative by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, a  new effort to support cities in cleaning their air adding that the city of Accra has been nominated to benefit from a comprehensive network of air quality monitors to help investigate and improve Accra's air quality. 

Mayor of Accra who was joined by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Hon. Henry Quartey to receive the C40 Regional Director for Africa, expressed the city's commitment to carry out activities towards mitigating the effects of climate change through the implementation of the Accra CAP. 

Greater Accra Minister on his part noted that the effects of poor sanitation in Accra contributed to the emissions responsible for climate change adding that the Let's Make Accra Work Agenda hoped to address the issue of waste burning, indiscriminate disposal of waste among others. 

Mr Chikoko later engaged Heads of Departments and focal points of the C40 networks in the city through a meeting to discuss C40 and its support programmes available for the city of Accra.