The Embassy of Denmark in Accra has supported a technical workshop hosted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with Statistics Denmark, as Ghana moves closer to becoming the first country in Africa to publish a System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) solid waste account.
The workshop, focused on developing a national solid waste account under the SEEA framework, marks the most recent milestone in a deepening strategic partnership between GSS, Statistics Denmark, and the Danish Embassy in Ghana, aimed at strengthening official statistics and advancing evidence-based decision-making.
A potential publication of the SEEA solid waste account has been targeted for 2026, positioning Ghana at the forefront of environmental-economic accounting on the continent.
The SEEA solid waste account will provide structured, economy-wide data on waste generation, composition and treatment, offering government and local authorities a robust evidence base to plan waste-to-resource initiatives, recycling systems and circular-economy investments. The initiative is expected to improve policy coherence across climate action, sanitation, urban planning and industrial development.
The technical work is being carried out through Denmark’s Strategic Sector Cooperation on Statistics, with Statistics Denmark supporting a national technical working group comprising GSS, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Zoomlion Ghana Limited, and the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs. Together, the group is identifying waste sources and applying SEEA methodologies tailored to Ghana’s economic and environmental context.
This latest development builds on the first phase of the Ghana–Denmark statistical partnership, which focused on strengthening Ghana’s National Statistical System through the use of administrative microdata, digitalisation and innovation.
Phase I explored data sharing linked to the Ghana Card, assessed pathways for integrated register-based statistics, and demonstrated how administrative data can deliver more timely, detailed and cost-effective statistics. A flagship outcome of Phase I was the launch of Statsbank, an open and reusable statistical databank populated initially with data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census.
Designed to be continuously updated using administrative data, Statsbank has already supported planning and climate-related analysis, including work on water consumption and wastewater flows in collaboration with sector partners.
The phase also advanced green statistics, including measurements of green goods and services aligned with international SEEA standards. The partnership entered its second phase on January 1, 2024, with a renewed emphasis on piloting administrative data use, formalising data-sharing agreements, mapping data across the National Statistical System and strengthening institutional capacity.
Green statistics remain central, with the SEEA solid waste account now emerging as the programme’s most ambitious and transformative output.
Beyond technical gains, the collaboration underscores a broader commitment to accountability and democratic participation. By equipping policymakers with accurate, integrated data—and making statistics accessible to the public—the partnership aims to empower citizens to hold leaders accountable and to ensure Ghana’s transition to a greener, more sustainable future is equitable and just.
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