Assessing Accra’s Climate Action Plan as a case of vertical integration to achieve sustainable development

The compounding effects of rapid urbanization and climate change are driving cities in the Global South to urgently require localized intervention. This imperative hinges on the existence of robust institutional frameworks and strategies. The researchers observed that Accra’s Climate Action Plan (ACAP) in Ghana incorporates enabling factors that support urban climate governance; nevertheless, there is a lack of clarity regarding the key success implementation indicators that have been integrated to determine sustainable outcomes. The article, therefore, aims to qualitatively evaluate the governance frameworks and strategies put in place to attain a sustainable future in Accra by 2030. The evaluation of strategies focuses on two fundamental domains: stakeholder engagement and policy instruments. The governance framework is examined in terms of budget and funding options; monitoring and evaluation processes, internal coordination and cross-sector collaboration. The study employs interviews, content analysis, and a three-dimensional framework to assess sustainable development synergies. The findings of the study reveal specific policy instruments that are suboptimal at the local scale due to prevailing decentralized frameworks constraining the city’s autonomy. Furthermore, the ACAP has yet to be integrated into the city’s budget, with funding remaining limited. The institutional integration of ACAP is also significantly hindered by bureaucratic inefficiencies, limitations in monitoring and evaluation framework, and weakness in both internal and cross-sectoral collaborations. Another evidence from this study is that ACAP, while conducive for promoting sustainable development, shows limitations in addressing social sustainability. This is attributed to the absence of a comprehensive social risk and gender-responsive analysis of the impacts associated with the implementation of ACAP. The article thus concludes that the pursuit of a sustainable urban future in Accra remains impeded, unless meaningful efforts are directed toward enhancing the governance framework and revising the policy. The study recommends a more systematic analysis of policies to promote stronger social sustainability, inter alia. Policymakers and scholars focusing on local climate policy and sustainable urban development can find utility in the findings.