Sweden Ghana climate project plans have been halted after the Swedish Energy Agency found that no verified emissions reductions had been achieved from a solar programme in Ghana, a case that raises new questions about how countries use international carbon markets to meet national climate goals.
The project was meant to help Sweden count 165,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in emissions reductions by 2030. Instead, according to documents reviewed by SVT, the initiative failed to produce confirmed climate gains, leading the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) to stop it before public funds were paid out.
Sweden’s Ghana climate project falls behind schedule
The agreement was signed in 2023 between the Swedish Energy Agency and Stella Futura, a company expected to develop rooftop solar installations with battery storage for commercial and industrial sites in Ghana.
The original aim was to reduce the use of diesel-powered backup generators and fossil-based electricity. Sweden would then be able to count the resulting emissions cuts under international climate cooperation rules linked to the Paris Agreement.
The contract was worth SEK 90 million (about €8.2 million), but the money will not be paid. The agency concluded that the timetable could no longer be met.
“We assess that the schedule cannot be maintained,” Sara Sundberg, head of department at the Swedish Energy Agency, told SVT.
The project had been presented as Sweden’s first mitigation activity in Ghana under the Paris Agreement framework. In 2023, the Swedish Energy Agency described it as a proof of concept for both countries’ implementation of international climate cooperation.
No verified emissions cuts from the solar programme
The central problem is that no emissions reductions have been confirmed since the project began in 2024.
According to SVT, Stella Futura had still not submitted an approved project plan after more than two years of work. Sundberg also said the agency could not confirm whether solar panels had been installed at all within the framework of the programme.
“I cannot answer whether the company has installed any solar panels,” she said.
Asked whether it was possible that nothing had happened during those years, Sundberg replied: “It absolutely can be. We enter at an early stage, when the projects are not in place, and that is how this type of financing works.”
The decision to end the project is also linked to a dispute over an ownership change, after Stella Futura was acquired by another company last year. SVT reported that Stella Futura had not responded to requests for comment.
Article 6 carbon trading faces another test
The case is politically sensitive because Sweden has placed international climate cooperation at the centre of part of its climate strategy.
The project was developed under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to cooperate on emissions reductions and, under certain conditions, transfer climate mitigation outcomes between states.
In practice, Article 6 is intended to make it possible to reduce emissions where climate measures are cheaper or faster to implement, while also providing finance and technical support to lower-income countries. In Ghana, the Swedish-backed solar project was expected to expand clean electricity and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Supporters of Article 6 argue that the system can help accelerate the green transition and mobilise investment in countries that face financial barriers. Critics argue that rich countries may use such mechanisms to delay more difficult domestic emissions cuts.
The Ghana case illustrates both sides of the debate. Sweden sought to finance solar power abroad while counting the reductions toward its own climate accounting. But without verified cuts, the project could not deliver either climate impact in Ghana or creditable progress for Sweden.
Pourmokhtari says the agency followed instructions
Sweden’s Minister for Climate and the Environment (klimat- och miljöminister), Romina Pourmokhtari of the Liberals, has defended international emissions reductions as part of Sweden’s climate policy.
She declined an interview with SVT but said in a written comment that the agency’s decision was in line with government expectations.
“Climate work in other countries is an important way for Sweden, which has already come far on the path towards fossil freedom, to contribute to the transition,” Pourmokhtari wrote. “That the Swedish Energy Agency follows the projects and ends those that do not work is exactly according to the instructions.”
The opposition has criticised the approach. Rickard Nordin, climate policy spokesperson for the Centre Party, told SVT that it was “deeply unserious and irresponsible” for the government to outsource climate policy. He argued that Sweden should reduce emissions at home rather than count reductions in other countries.
Ghana remains central to Sweden’s Article 6 plans
Ghana is not Sweden’s only partner under Article 6. Sweden has also signed cooperation arrangements with countries including the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda and Zambia.
But Ghana is the only country where Sweden has so far started concrete projects. Alongside the cancelled rooftop solar programme, Sweden has supported plans for electric motorcycles and a utility-scale solar park in Ghana.
In March 2025, the Swedish Energy Agency announced two additional Ghana projects: one expected to deploy around 48,000 electric motorcycles, and another to build a 60-megawatt solar park connected to Ghana’s national electricity grid. Together, those two projects were expected to reduce emissions by 450,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2030.
The Ghana portfolio therefore remains important for Sweden’s attempt to show that Article 6 can work in practice. But previous reporting had already raised questions about implementation. Aftonbladet reported last year that Sweden’s plan for 48,000 electric mopeds in Ghana had so far produced only 152. SVT also reported in 2024 that a Stella Futura pilot project in Ghana had produced just 39 kilograms of emissions reductions, roughly comparable to a car journey between Stockholm and Gothenburg.
A setback for Sweden’s 2045 climate strategy
Sweden’s climate policy framework sets a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, followed by negative emissions. At least 85% of the required reductions must come from emissions within Sweden’s territory, while the rest may be achieved through supplementary measures.
International cooperation can therefore play a role, but it depends on credibility, verification and transparent accounting. The cancellation of the Ghana solar project does not by itself determine Sweden’s climate trajectory, but it weakens one of the government’s practical examples of overseas emissions reductions.
The decision also comes at a time when carbon markets are under growing scrutiny across Europe and internationally. For Sweden, the issue is not only whether Article 6 projects can produce emissions cuts, but whether they can do so quickly enough, transparently enough and at a scale that justifies their place in national climate policy.
The Swedish Energy Agency is expected to review the process. The broader question is whether the Ghana setback will lead to tighter controls on future projects, or to a more political debate over how much Sweden should rely on emissions reductions beyond its borders.
