Engaging communities in a just transition: Ellembelle, Ghana

Exploring how the energy transition is impacting community livelihoods

1 June 2023

This story is part of a global project, “Engaging communities in a just transition”, launched by the EITI in early 2022 with support from the Ford Foundation. Implemented in four communities in Colombia, Ghana and Indonesia, this two-year project explores how the energy transition is impacting community livelihoods and the obstacles that communities face in accessing and using data and dialogue platforms. It seeks to strengthen the EITI’s role in ensuring that community priorities are better taken into account in public debate and decision-making on the energy transition.

Ellembelle in pictures

In 2022, the EITI commissioned a photo project on the communities and oil and gas industry in Ellembelle District.

View the images

The community

Anokyi and Sanzule are coastal settlements in the Ellembelle District of Ghana’s Western Region. Community livelihoods have historically depended on farming and fishing.

Over the past decade, the area has transformed into a hub for Ghana’s oil and gas industry. Anokyi hosts a processing plant that receives gas from the offshore Jubilee and TEN fields, while Sanzule hosts an onshore facility that receives oil from the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) field.

Ghana’s National Energy Transition Framework acknowledges that shifting global demand for fossil fuels presents risks to the country’s oil and gas industry. It also envisages a major role for natural gas in meeting growing domestic energy needs until at least the mid-2050s. In early 2023, Ghana’s state-owned gas company signed an agreement for the construction of a second gas processing plant near Anokyi, which is due to be completed within the next two years.

Ellembelle District

Population: 1,678 (Anokyi) and 2,345 (Sanzule)
Main industries: Agriculture, fishing, oil and gas

Aerial photograph of the Anokyi community.

Children play in their parents’canoe in Atuabo, a coastal town near Anokyi. — Children play in their parents’ canoe in Atuabo, a coastal town near Anokyi.

A fisherman and his son having an afternoon meal in Atuabo.

The Atuabo gas processing plant at night. The Ellembelle District hosts two major oil and gas installations: a gas processing plant and an onshore receiving facility, located in Atuabo and Sanzule, respectively.

Aerial photograph of the Atuabo gas processing plant.

Aerial photograph of the Quantum terminal that converts natural gas into liquefied petroleum gas for Ghana's domestic markets. — Aerial photograph of a facility that converts natural gas into liquefied petroleum gas for Ghana’s domestic markets.

Opportunities and challenges

The oil and gas industry has reshaped the community. In some places, farmland has given way to industrial facilities and pipelines, and their construction has disrupted the fishing activities that some community members depend on for their livelihoods.

The project operator provided compensation and supported efforts to restore community livelihoods. But some community members voiced concern over a perceived lack of consultation. Community livelihoods have further come under pressure due to the rising cost of living driven by people moving to the area to work in the oil and gas industry.

But the industry has also brought benefits. Community health centres, schools, roads and water and sanitation facilities have been upgraded. Some community members are now employed at the oil and gas facilities. Others, including women, run small businesses that provide goods and services to the companies and their workers.

Aerial photograph of the trauma center under construction by the gas company. — Aerial photograph of a trauma centre under construction by the gas company.

The new Anokyi Methodist primary school funded by gas companies (ENI and Vitol) in 2022. — A new primary school built with funding from gas companies in 2022.

The community engages in a football competition sponsored by gas companies.

A new school built in Anokyi sponsored by the gas company.

A new sports pitch sponsored by gas companies in Sanzule.

A road newly constructed by gas companies.

Solutions

Community members said that they want timely and granular information on how the oil and gas industry is impacting their area. At the top of the priority list is information on jobs and local procurement, social spending by companies and revenues received by their subnational government, the Ellembelle District Assembly.

Members of the community stressed that such information should be disclosed in formats that are easy to access and understand. Suggestions included disseminating information in the local dialect through townhall meetings, on local radio and at community information centres. They also stressed their desire for meaningful multi-stakeholder dialogue and participation in decision-making related to the extractive industries and the energy transition.

Community leaders from Sanzule, Anokyi and Atuabo gather for a discussion on just energy transition, organised as part of the project “Engaging communities in a just transition”. — Community leaders from Sanzule, Anokyi and Atuabo gather for a discussion on just energy transition as part of the “Engaging communities in a just transition” project.

A woman leader from the Anokyi community engages in a discussion on the impact of the energy transition on women.

Community members discuss the impact of the energy transition on the community.

As we all know, the District Assembly Common Fund is always in arrears. The only reliable source of revenue to finance critical public projects is the revenue received from the mining and oil and gas companies. How will we survive if these companies are not in operation?

Senior official of Ellembelle District Assembly

Government and agricultural officials always point to climate change as a contributory factor to recent decline in food production. Won’t the energy transition also affect agricultural productivity in our communities?

Community leader in Sanzule