Ghana's mining carbon: the summary
The key figures of the National Ledger on one page, readable without JavaScript. Every figure is a median with its 95% range from 20,000 simulations. The interactive Ledger has the charts, the land and forestry view, the account and the inventory workbench.
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2022 at a glance
- The sector's footprint is 4.8 times (3.8–6.1) the mining line of the first National Inventory Document (978 kt CO₂e in 2022).
- 18% (14–23) is in the inventory but labelled as another sector; artisanal fuel use is 19% (12–28) and is unlabelled.
- Artisanal and small-scale mining is 51% (41–61) of the footprint.
- From 2016 to 2024 the sector emitted 40.2 Mt CO₂e (32.9–50.3).
Where the footprint sits, by year
| Year | Labelled as mining | Labelled elsewhere | Artisanal fuel (unlabelled) | Land clearance | Artisanal share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 19 | 19 | 26 | 36 (25–49) | 53 (43–62) |
| 2017 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 37 (26–50) | 51 (41–60) |
| 2018 | 20 | 18 | 27 | 35 (24–48) | 54 (44–62) |
| 2019 | 21 | 22 | 30 | 27 (18–39) | 50 (41–58) |
| 2020 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 36 (25–49) | 50 (41–60) |
| 2021 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 37 (26–50) | 48 (37–58) |
| 2022 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 42 (30–55) | 51 (41–61) |
| 2023 | 20 | 19 | 22 | 40 (29–53) | 52 (43–62) |
| 2024 | 18 | 18 | 28 | 36 (25–49) | 56 (46–64) |
%. Labelled, elsewhere and artisanal-fuel shares are shares of the sum of component medians and are labelled as such; land and artisanal shares are simulated medians with 95% ranges.
Components, 2022
| Component | Segment | Inventory category | Label status | kt CO₂e, median (95% range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large-scale mine diesel | Large-scale | 1.A.2.g.iii | labelled | 946 (885–972) |
| Grid electricity used by mines | Large-scale | 1.A.1.a.i | elsewhere | 476 (379–614) |
| Gas-turbine power, Tarkwa & Damang | Large-scale | 1.A.1.a.i | elsewhere | 307 (299–315) |
| Other large-scale Scope 1 (HFCs, LPG, waste) | Large-scale | 1.A.2.g.iii | elsewhere | 70 (30–111) |
| Artisanal energy use | Artisanal | 1.A.2.g.iii | unlabelled | 908 (543–1,330) |
| Artisanal land clearance | Artisanal | 4.F.2.a | unlabelled | 1,436 (806–2,633) |
| Large-scale land clearance | Large-scale | 4.F.2.a | unlabelled | 474 (290–716) |
Medians of each component; their sum is a sum of medians, not the simulated total.
Land cleared for mining (draft method land-0.2)
Carbon lost when land is cleared for pits, dumps, tailings and roads, using the carbon pools of the first National Inventory Document. This profile is a draft method and is never added to the footprint above.
| Year | Mining-driven loss, ha (median) | kt CO₂ (95% range) |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8,035 | 2,524 (1,562–4,159) |
| 2017 | 8,891 | 2,754 (1,702–4,553) |
| 2018 | 8,720 | 2,800 (1,737–4,602) |
| 2019 | 6,209 | 2,003 (1,243–3,293) |
| 2020 | 8,792 | 2,826 (1,753–4,646) |
| 2021 | 7,672 | 2,502 (1,552–4,110) |
| 2022 | 10,449 | 3,386 (2,101–5,562) |
| 2023 | 10,059 | 3,452 (2,150–5,653) |
| 2024 | 9,742 | 3,291 (2,047–5,399) |
Hectares are the sum of the artisanal and large-scale medians.
Inventory categories
| IPCC 2006 | CRT | Category | Label status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.A.2.i | 1.A.2.g.iii | Manufacturing industries and construction: mining (excluding fuels) and quarrying | labelled |
| 1.A.1.a | 1.A.1.a.i | Public electricity and heat production | elsewhere |
| 2.F / 1.A.2 / 4 | 2.F.1 / 1.A.2 / 5 | Refrigerants, other fuel use and waste | elsewhere |
| 1.A.3 / 1.A.4 | 1.A.3.b / 1.A.4 | Fuel sales counted under transport or other sectors | unlabelled |
| 3.B.6.b.i | 4.F.2.a | Forest land converted to other land | unlabelled |
Bundle 3.0.0, released 2026-10-17. Data: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0); code: AGPL-3.0. Cleared for release by KNUST IPUK/OGR (October 2026). Cite: NCEL, KNUST (2026), EmiMine national data bundle 3.0.0.