The Bank of Ghana launched the Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap on 30 June 2026, disclosing that 23 commercial banks hit 73% compliance with the central bank’s Sustainable Banking Principles as of September 2025. Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama framed the number as a turning point, with the launch extending the framework to insurance, pensions, and securities regulators for the first time.
The new roadmap is built on a decade of voluntary commitments, a 2021 compliance framework the central bank developed with the International Finance Corporation and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, a 2024 climate-related risk directive, and a four-year strategic plan that runs through 2028. The 73% figure is the most visible signal of how that build is paying off.
Bank of Ghana Reports 73% Sustainable Banking Compliance
The 73% figure is the most visible signal of how Ghana’s banks have absorbed a decade of sustainability rules. The central bank announced the industry average at the Accra launch of the Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap, alongside a new cross-regulator framework. All 23 commercial bank chief executives in the country have voluntarily endorsed the underlying Sustainable Banking Principles.
- 73%: industry average compliance with Sustainable Banking Principles as of September 2025
- 23: commercial bank chief executives who have voluntarily endorsed the principles
- 4: financial regulators now party to the new Sustainable Finance Roadmap
- 2024-2028: span of the Bank of Ghana’s Strategic Plan on Sustainability and Climate-Related Risks
- 11 years: since the central bank set up its first multi-stakeholder sustainability committee in 2015
The number is an industry average, not a per-bank score, measured under a standardised assessment framework the Bank of Ghana built in 2021 with the International Finance Corporation and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. Asiama disclosed the figure as part of the launch, framing it as evidence that the country’s banks have shifted from treating sustainability as a regulatory checkbox to treating it as a strategic priority. The new framework now extends those rules to insurance, pensions, and capital markets regulators for the first time.
A Decade of Rules Built the 73% Figure
The 73% number is the most visible payoff of a build that started in 2015, when the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Association of Banks, and the Environmental Protection Agency set up a multi-stakeholder committee. That body later became the Sustainable Banking Principles Steering Committee, and in 2019 it produced the Sustainable Banking Principles along with sector guidance notes covering environmental and social risk management, green investment, and the alignment of financial intermediation with national development goals.
- 2015: Bank of Ghana, Ghana Association of Banks, and Environmental Protection Agency set up a multi-stakeholder committee
- 2019: Sustainable Banking Principles and sector guidance notes adopted
- 2021: Standardised compliance measurement framework introduced with IFC and SECO support
- 2024: Climate-Related Financial Risk Directive issued
- 2024: Four-year Strategic Plan on Sustainability and Climate-Related Risks (2024-2028) launched
- 2026: Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap launched, bringing in insurance, pensions, and securities regulators
The next layer landed in 2021, when the central bank, with IFC and SECO support, introduced a standardised framework to measure how individual banks were doing against the principles, a tool that makes the 73% number itself possible. Compliance has risen steadily since. In 2024, the central bank added two more pieces: a 2024 Climate-Related Financial Risk Directive requiring banks and other regulated financial institutions to identify, assess, and manage climate-related financial risks, and a four-year Strategic Plan on Sustainability and Climate-Related Risks covering 2024 to 2028.
Taken together, the four pieces of the build form the spine of the Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap, which is itself a 2026 addition. The roadmap adds a layer no prior document has attempted: a common framework for four separate regulators to coordinate sustainable finance policy across banking, insurance, pensions, and capital markets.
23 Bank Chiefs Voted Sustainability a Strategic Priority
The 73% rests on a base of voluntary, top-level commitment. All 23 commercial bank chief executives in Ghana have signed onto the Sustainable Banking Principles, pledging to integrate sustainability considerations into governance structures, risk management systems, and overall business operations.
The unified commitment marked a turning point, signalling the readiness of Ghana’s banking sector to embrace sustainability not as an obligation, but as a strategic imperative.
Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, Governor, Bank of Ghana, at the Accra launch of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap
The voluntary structure is one the central bank has leaned on for nearly a decade, and it now anchors the roadmap’s expansion to insurance, pensions, and securities. The new framework is built around three pillars: integrating environmental, social, and governance principles into financial decision-making, strengthening climate-related financial risk management, and expanding financing for sustainable development. Each pillar carries implementation responsibilities for the four regulators, moving from broad policy commitments toward measurable actions. The roadmap, in other words, is the first time the country’s financial supervisors have been asked to enforce the same sustainability playbook across sectors they used to police separately.
A New Roadmap Stitches Four Regulators Together
Until 30 June 2026, sustainable finance policy in Ghana lived mostly inside the Bank of Ghana. The new Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap, developed jointly by the central bank, the National Insurance Commission, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, extends coordination across insurance, pensions, and capital markets for the first time. The launch, held under the theme “Achieving regulatory convergence on ESG: Promoting a resilient and sustainable future for Ghana,” formalises that the four regulators will align supervisory expectations. The roadmap is being supported by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, which have partnered in Ghana for more than a decade on environmental and social risk management.
The Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap is built around three pillars:
- Integrating ESG principles into financial decision-making, including sustainability-linked lending, insurance underwriting, and pension fund allocation
- Strengthening climate-related financial risk management through aligned supervisory frameworks, data infrastructure, and disclosure
- Expanding financing for sustainable development, including green and blended finance, green and sustainability bond issuance, and pension allocations to renewable energy and resilient infrastructure
Minister of State in Charge of Climate and Sustainability Seidu Issifu described the launch as a declaration of intent and called on financial institutions to integrate ESG principles into their strategies and disclose climate-related risks. Switzerland’s Janine Walz, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland, said the roadmap marked the beginning of implementation and stressed the need for continued capacity building and stakeholder engagement. SECO has reaffirmed its support for the implementation phase, she added. The launch theme, Achieving regulatory convergence on ESG, signals the explicit goal of harmonisation across the four regulators. The central bank is also using the launch to position Ghana as a regional green finance hub.
The roadmap, in practical terms, opens new product lanes for each sector: banks can develop sustainability-linked lending products, insurers can expand climate and parametric insurance offerings, capital markets can deepen green and sustainability bond issuance, and pension funds can finance renewable energy and resilient infrastructure. The regulator-coordination model is unusual in West Africa, where most central banks have either led sustainability policy alone or relied on industry self-regulation. Under the new framework, all four regulators must work from the same playbook for the first time.
Climate Risk Is Now a Financial Risk, and Capital Is Watching
Asiama tied the roadmap explicitly to where he expects capital to flow next. He said sustainable finance is increasingly central to financial stability, long-term investment, and economic resilience, and is reshaping where global capital flows and what investors expect of the country’s financial systems.
The framing is deliberate. The Bank of Ghana is positioning the country to attract international capital for climate, infrastructure, and sustainable development projects, with green and blended finance tools as the bridge. Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson read a speech at the launch that pushed the same line from the fiscal side, telling the audience that when floods wash away roads, the cost appears in the budget, and when droughts affect crop yield, it appears in food inflation. Capital must seek return and build resilience at the same time, he said.
IFC Division Director for West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea Ms. Nathalie Kouassi Akon endorsed the framework at the launch, calling it a key policy framework that can strengthen the country’s financial system against climate-related risks while unlocking new investment opportunities. Her caveat was the harder line: the roadmap’s success will depend on effective implementation, and its full deployment will be the next frontier, requiring sustained capacity building, innovative financial products, and an unwavering commitment to transparency and accountability. Frederick Amissah, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Finance, said the roadmap should serve as a practical implementation tool alongside the Ministry of Finance’s Green Finance Taxonomy. The two frameworks, he added, should push financial institutions to incorporate sustainability considerations more rigorously into credit decisions, particularly in sectors exposed to environmental risks like construction and mining. The roadmap also leans on the IFC’s broader ESG partnership work in Ghana.
The Implementation Gap Remains
The headline number sits below full compliance, and the central bank acknowledged it. The roadmap launch itself ended with a warning from the governor that the harder work starts now. Asiama, who set the optimistic tone all morning, closed the launch with a single line that put the burden on the next phase.
A roadmap, of course, is only as good as its implementation. The launch is an important milestone, but implementation is where its true value will be realised.
Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, Governor, Bank of Ghana, at the Accra launch of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap
The IFC’s Kouassi Akon echoed the caveat. She said the full implementation of the roadmap will be the next frontier, requiring sustained capacity building, innovative financial products, and an unwavering commitment to transparency and accountability. The four regulators will need to align supervisory expectations across banking, insurance, pensions, and capital markets, and the central bank’s 2024 Climate-Related Financial Risk Directive only became effective for banks in January 2026, according to industry coverage. The Strategic Plan runs through 2028, giving the central bank a defined window to consolidate the 73% compliance figure and operationalise the roadmap’s three pillars.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the Bank of Ghana announce about Sustainable Banking Principles compliance?
The central bank said industry-wide compliance with the Sustainable Banking Principles reached an average of 73% as of September 2025, the figure measured under a standardised framework the Bank of Ghana built in 2021 with the International Finance Corporation and Switzerland’s SECO. Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama disclosed the number at the 30 June 2026 Accra launch of the Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap.
How many banks have signed onto the Sustainable Banking Principles?
All 23 commercial bank chief executives in Ghana have voluntarily endorsed the principles, committing to integrate sustainability considerations into governance structures, risk management systems, and overall business operations. The endorsements are voluntary rather than legally mandatory, a structure the central bank has leaned on since the 2019 launch of the principles.
What is the Ghana Sustainable Finance Roadmap?
The roadmap, launched on 30 June 2026, is a national framework developed jointly by the Bank of Ghana, the National Insurance Commission, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is the first time Ghana’s four main financial regulators have aligned sustainable finance policy across banking, insurance, pensions, and securities, and it is organised around three pillars: integrating ESG principles into decisions, strengthening climate-related risk management, and expanding sustainable development financing.
Who supports the roadmap financially and technically?
The roadmap is being supported by the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. The two institutions partnered with the Bank of Ghana in 2021 to develop the standardised compliance measurement framework that produced the 73% figure, and SECO has worked with IFC in Ghana for more than a decade on environmental and social risk management.
