GUYANA-Guyana seeking certification ahead of carbon sales

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana government expects the country’s high-quality carbon from 2021 to 2025 will soon be certified by the Architecture for REDD+Transactions.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, addressing the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo that goes into its third day on Wednesday, said only when the carbon credits are certified by the Architecture for REDD+Transactions can Guyana enter the global carbon market.

“We anticipate, as soon as they’re certified, that we will be able to get into the market,” he told delegates.

Under ART-TREES, credits are validated and verified to globally recognized standards yearly, including adherence to Cancun safeguards, and then issued for trade on the global carbon market.

In December 2022, the government welcomed the ART Board approval and ART Secretariat issuance of 33.47 million tons of verified Carbon credits for the period 2016 to 2020, and Guyana became the first country to receive a jurisdictional scale program to be approved by ART for the issuance of TREEs credits.

As a result, Guyana moved into a US$750 million agreement with global energy giant Hess Corporation, resulting in the US-based company purchasing 2.5 million carbon credits annually.

Last year, Guyana received its first payment of US$150 million, with 15 percent (US$22.5 million) disbursed to 242 Amerindian, riverine, and remote communities across the country.

The government said the remaining 85 percent of the payment would fund climate adaptation measures. Guyana has already received GUY$ 37.5 million (One Guyana dollar = 0.004 cents) in carbon credit payments, with another GUY$ 50 million expected later in the year.

“The deal with Hess, I have heard people say that we didn’t evolve from that deal… and let me say that we have some of the most robust forest carbon in the world. We’re the only country in the world with the jurisdictional scale certification,” Jagdeo said.

He said Guyana is committed to maintaining net zero carbon emissions even as it becomes a major energy supplier, producing 1.5 million barrels of oil daily.

He reminded the audience that Guyana has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world and has some of the most robust forest carbon, making it well-positioned to balance economic development and environmental sustainability.