A youth advocacy organisation has criticised Ghana’s 2025 Budget Statement for failing to adequately recognise and support young entrepreneurs driving clean energy innovation across the country.
The Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) says this oversight threatens progress toward universal energy access and the Mission 300 target, which aims to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. The initiative, launched jointly by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the World Bank Group, represents one of Africa’s most ambitious energy access campaigns.
Chibeze Ezekiel, Executive Director of SYND, acknowledged at a press conference in Accra that the government has outlined an ambitious roadmap for expanding electricity access and promoting cleaner cooking. However, he argued the budget fails to prioritise the very group at the heart of innovation in this space, namely young entrepreneurs in the clean energy sector.
Speaking under the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) Platform, Ezekiel said youth-owned businesses producing solar technologies, clean cookstoves, briquettes and other climate-friendly solutions receive little to no institutional support despite quietly powering rural homes, lowering cooking costs for families and creating green jobs.
Ghana unveiled its National Energy Compact in September 2025 as part of Mission 300, outlining plans to increase renewable energy’s share in the national mix from four per cent to 10 per cent by 2030 and mobilise $20 billion in investments over the next decade. Yet SYND warns that the budget’s failure to support youth-led clean energy businesses contradicts these commitments and slows national efforts to boost access through distributed solar, improved cookstoves and low-carbon fuels.
The group argues that expanding these enterprises would speed up Ghana’s clean energy rollout, improve livelihoods in rural communities and broaden the tax base through thousands of new direct and indirect jobs. Ezekiel noted that government should provide funding, capacity-building programs and policy incentives to help these green energy enterprises thrive and absorb unemployed youth into the job market.
SYND also expressed concern that the budget does not clearly outline job opportunities to be created through energy sector investments, which represents a major expectation under Mission 300. While the government has projected 800,000 new jobs in 2026 and indicated that renewable energy alone could create 322,110 jobs from 2026 to 2030, the budget does not specify how many will come from energy access programmes, electrification projects or renewable rollouts.
This lack of detail makes it difficult for young people to plan, prepare or receive the needed guidance to position themselves for employment in the sector, according to SYND.
On funding, SYND says the government’s allocation of GH¢2.0 billion for Phase I of the Rural Electricity Acceleration and Urban Intensification Initiative falls short of what the National Energy Compact requires. The Compact needs $4.4 billion in total, with at least $1.8 billion expected from public and donor financing. The group believes the current allocation, while commendable, is too small to push Ghana toward its target of near-universal electricity access by 2030.
They caution that inadequate funding risks delaying key projects, especially in rural communities where the remaining 3.7 million unconnected citizens reside.
The government plans to distribute 450,000 household cookstoves and 7,000 commercial ones under Phase I of the National Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Promotion Programme to increase access to clean cooking. While Ezekiel welcomed this initiative, he pointed to a practical infrastructure challenge that could undermine its success.
SYND warns the rollout may result in thousands of unused cylinders if households cannot afford the gas or cannot find nearby refill points. Without more gas-filling stations and measures to make LPG affordable for poor families, the programme could fall short of its clean cooking ambitions.
The group also criticised what it describes as near-absent youth participation in Ghana’s energy planning processes, a gap they say is inconsistent with the National Youth Policy 2022 to 2032. The policy calls for creating spaces where the youth can influence national decisions, not simply be passive beneficiaries.
SYND says that while gender inclusion received attention in the National Energy Compact, youth inclusion did not. They insist that young people, often the most affected by energy poverty and the backbone of the clean-tech sector, cannot be left out of policies that shape the country’s future.
Ghana’s Energy Transition and Investment Plan aims for net-zero emissions by 2060 and has the potential to create over 400,000 jobs, requiring approximately $550 billion in investment. The plan envisions strong capital market involvement in the energy sector, with significant efforts needed to attract private investment.
SYND maintains that these weaknesses in the 2026 Budget pose a significant challenge to achieving the Mission 300 Programme and the goals outlined in the National Energy Compact. For them, Ghana’s energy future must be a partnership between government and the young innovators already building solutions on the ground.
Ezekiel insists that as the country pushes toward universal electricity access and cleaner forms of cooking, Ghana cannot achieve its goals by overlooking the hands shaping tomorrow’s energy landscape. He stressed that young people working in sustainable energy initiatives often lack the financial and technical support needed to scale their businesses, highlighting the urgent need for government intervention.
Ghana joined 28 other African countries that have now presented National Energy Compacts since Mission 300’s launch in January 2025. The initiative has already connected 30 million Africans, with projects underway to connect another 100 million.
