Fasila Alhassan
In the streets of Kumasi, Ghana’s bustling second city, traffic rarely stops. From dawn to nightfall, the roads are jammed with cars, buses, and motorbikes.
Horns blare constantly, engines run for hours, and smoke from vehicles hangs heavily in the air. Commuters spend long hours stuck in traffic, while rising fuel prices make moving around the city expensive. The air pollution from exhaust fumes is slowly harming people’s health, causing respiratory problems, asthma, and other illnesses.
But one Ghanaian climate journalist is trying a different path — one that links everyday movement to the global fight against climate change.
Instead of relying on petrol-powered transport, Engr Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen now rides an electric bicycle for most of his daily journeys across the city. From reporting assignments to meetings and community engagements, the bicycle has become both his transport and his message.
“Climate leadership must be visible,” he says. “We cannot keep talking about solutions while our own lifestyles show something different.”
Reporting Climate, Living Climate
Engr Mohammed-Nurudeen has spent over a decade reporting on climate change, agriculture, health, technology, and environmental issues in Ghana and across West Africa.
He is the Executive Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Food Security (CCCFS) and a director of West African Journalists for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (WAJESHA), Non-Profit Journalism Project of CCCFS.
His reporting has taken him to nearly 2000 rural farming communities, flood-affected villages, and drought-stricken areas across Ghana — places where climate change is already reshaping lives.
“When you meet farmers losing crops to drought, or communities struggling with floods, climate change stops being an abstract idea,” he explains. “It becomes something you must respond to.”
It was this understanding that led him to reconsider his own daily habits. He asked himself a simple question: If I am reporting on climate solutions, am I living them? The answer led to the electric bicycle.
A Quiet Solution in a Noisy City
Urban transport in Kumasi is often chaotic. Vehicles sit idle in traffic jams, commuters negotiate fluctuating fares, and pollution levels rise steadily. Air pollution from these vehicles contributes to serious health risks, including lung diseases, heart problems, and increased hospital visits. For Mohammed-Nurudeen, the e-bike offered freedom and efficiency.
“While others are stuck in traffic negotiating fares, I move quietly through the city,” he says. “It saves time, it saves money, and it reduces pollution, which also protects our health.”
A single battery charge lasts up to five days, depending on use, making it cheaper than petrol-powered transport.
Beyond convenience and cost, the bicycle is a conversation starter. Commuters, shopkeepers, and students stop him to ask how the bicycle works, where they can buy one, and how far it can travel.
“Many people are curious. These conversations allow me to talk about climate solutions in a way that is easy to understand,” he says. “The streets become a classroom.”
He always directs them to a Bawku-based importer, Hakeem Girma, a professional teacher and Chief Executive Officer of M. Sniff Business Hub. Hakeem’s business once focused on electrical appliances and general goods. The transport crisis caused by the ban on motorbike riding in his hometown of Bawku pushed him to think differently.
“I had visited China before,” he explains. “Electric bicycles were part of daily life. Even delivery companies used them. I believed it could work here.”
“I see this as climate action,” Hakeem says. “It is about decarbonizing transport and building resilience.”
From Local Streets to Global Climate Goals
Transportation is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. In Ghana, the sector contributes significantly to urban air pollution and national emissions, thereby worsening public health. Cities like Kumasi are at the center of this challenge.
“Individual actions alone won’t solve the climate crisis,” he admits. “But visible, everyday choices can inspire change and show what is possible.”
His initiative aligns with Ghana’s National Electric Vehicle Policy and global climate goals, including the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
By reducing reliance on fossil fuels and promoting cleaner urban mobility, each electric bicycle ride contributes, in a small but measurable way, to these global efforts and protects citizens from pollution-related health problems.
Universities as Hubs for Change
Engr-Nurudeen sees universities as a key space for climate solutions. Many campuses in Ghana are crowded with vehicles, increasing congestion, pollution, and health risks. Electric bicycles could help students move efficiently while reducing emissions.
“Students travel constantly between lecture halls, hostels, and libraries,” he explains. “If campuses adopt electric bikes, they can become living examples of climate solutions and inspire students to carry these habits into society.”
Engaging Communities
Beyond campuses, the journalist uses his rides to engage the wider community. By demonstrating a working solution in real life, he challenges perceptions that climate action is only for policymakers or scientists.
“People ask, ‘How can I make a difference?’” he says. “I tell them that change begins with simple, everyday decisions — what we eat, how we travel, and how we use energy.”
In Ghana, climate awareness is growing, but practical solutions are often seen as distant or expensive. Engr Nurudeen’s approach bridges that gap, showing that small personal choices can complement larger policy measures while reducing pollution-related health risks.
His work is not just about technology or policy; it is deeply human. Reporting from rural communities, he has witnessed how climate impacts affect livelihoods, education, and food security.
“I have met women who rely on small-scale farming for income, yet floods destroy their crops every year,” he recalls. “I have seen students unable to reach school because transport costs are too high. These stories remind me that climate action is about people, not just numbers.”
The Global Perspective
Globally, cities are seeking cleaner and more sustainable transport solutions. Electric bicycles, e-buses, and other low-emission transport systems are part of the solution.
In Ghana, projects supported by international development partners, such as the UN and bilateral agencies, aim to expand electric mobility to reduce emissions, improve public health, and support sustainable cities.
Engr Nurudeen’s daily rides may seem small, but they echo these international efforts. His visible example contributes to broader discussions on climate adaptation, sustainable urban planning, and public awareness.
“Big policies are crucial, but real change also happens in everyday life,” he says. “We cannot wait for international agreements alone. Action begins on the street.”
He knows that one electric bicycle cannot solve the climate crisis. Large-scale interventions, from renewable energy to sustainable transport infrastructure, are necessary. Yet each ride sends a clear, simple message: change is possible, and it begins with the choices people make every day.
“Sometimes the strongest climate action is not in policy papers or conference rooms,” he reflects. “Sometimes it is seen quietly on the streets — in the movement of a bicycle, showing that a different way forward is possible.”
Through his quiet rides, he connects local action in Kumasi to the global climate fight — proving that climate solutions are not only about governments and agreements but also about visible, consistent, and personal commitment, and protecting the health of communities from the dangers of air pollution.
