Youth group urges IFC, CBI Ghana and EPA to disclose progress on emissions, land compensation and environmental and worker safeguards.
ACCRA, October 20, 2026 — The Gen Z platform of the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) has called on the International Finance Corporation (IFC), CBI Ghana and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to disclose progress on environmental and social safeguards for Ghana’s low-carbon cement project.
In a statement read by Adigao Alvin Wenia, the group raised concerns about CBI Ghana’s limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) plant in Tema and its clay quarry at Togorme, North Tongu District, Volta Region.
The IFC approved financing of up to US$20 million for the project on November 24, 2025. SYND said deadlines for all 12 commitments under the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP), which ran from October 2025 to June 2026, had passed without a public progress update as of October 20, 2026.
The group and its partner, Industrious Labs, said they contacted CBI Ghana in March and July 2026 but had received no response by publication.
“We support cleaner cement, and we want this project to succeed,” said SYND Founder and Executive Coordinator Chibeze Ezekiel. “But a project financed as a climate solution has to show its work. Communities in Togorme and Tema, and the people who work at the plant, deserve to know whether the commitments made to IFC have been kept.”
Emissions and climate claims
SYND called for the publication of the project’s emissions baseline and calculation methodology. While IFC’s review states that LC3 technology can reduce cement’s carbon footprint by 40 per cent compared with conventional Portland cement, the project-specific analysis cited by the group projected a 19 per cent reduction in carbon intensity.
The group cited projected annual emissions averaging 354,590 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between 2026 and 2032, compared with about 257,600 tonnes reported for 2023. It said the claimed annual reduction of 195,030 tonnes could not be independently reproduced from publicly available information and urged disclosure of the underlying assumptions before carbon credits are generated.
Land and livelihoods
The group said the Togorme quarry covers 304 acres of community land, with 21 families holding customary rights agreeing to compensation in four instalments over nine years.
Citing IFC’s assessment, it said the livelihood restoration plan was only partly aligned with Performance Standard 5 and the extraction area was not clearly demarcated.
Potentially affected groups include crop farmers, a women’s pottery group of about 100 members who source clay from the land, and custodians of shrines at the site.
A supplementary livelihood restoration plan, an affected-person census and a close-out audit were due by June 30, 2026, the group said. It also questioned why cultural heritage was not included among the IFC standards applied, given the reported presence of shrines.
Air quality and worker protection
SYND cited project documents recording PM2.5 levels above the 24-hour limit on 20 of 28 occasions at two monitoring points between January 2020 and March 2021. Acknowledging Tema’s multiple industrial emission sources, it called for updated monitoring to establish the contribution of individual facilities.
The group also urged publication of recent air-quality and noise monitoring results for the Tema plant and Togorme quarry, noting that an air emissions management and monitoring plan was due by March 31, 2026.
At the time of IFC’s appraisal, CBI Ghana had 154 permanent employees, including 25 women, and 114 third-party agency workers. The statement said none were unionised and agency workers were not represented on the Employee Voice Council.
The group also cited an IFC-identified child-labour risk in the clinker supply chain and a requirement for an updated Supplier Code of Conduct by October 2025. It called for safe channels for permanent, agency and contract workers to report concerns without fear of retaliation.
IFC financing status
SYND said the IFC project page had listed the investment as “Hold” since May 6, 2026, without explaining the status or clarifying whether the loan had been signed or disbursed.
It urged IFC to publish evidence of progress on all 12 ESAP commitments, including revised timelines for outstanding actions. It also called on the EPA to disclose relevant environmental permits, quarterly monitoring returns and inspection findings in line with applicable rules.
“Ghana’s industrial transition should deliver real climate benefits while protecting the people who live and work alongside it,” Ezekiel said. “Transparency is how a good project proves it.”
The statement drew on public project disclosures reviewed through September 2026 and SYND’s attempts to engage CBI Ghana. The group said its findings were not based on a site inspection or audit.
Source: www.climatewatchonline.com
