Brazil invites Guyana to take forest monetisation model to G20

Guyana has developed a robust mechanism to monetise its forest carbon, while simultaneously preserving these resources and combating climate change – a model which Brazil has welcomed it to share at the G20 Summit later this year.
President Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday facilitated bilateral talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Guyana, where several pressing areas were ventilated.
Brazil, who holds the presidency of the G20, has invited Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to highlight Guyana’s model for forest management and monetisation.
Discussions will focus on creating a global model, which can be later taken to the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP), and can see other countries benefiting from such a framework.
“On the issue of climate change, we had the opportunity to update Brazil on the leadership role we’re playing in relation to the forest and deploying the forest as an important global tool in the fight against climate change.
“We have agreed that at the G20, Guyana will be invited in the person of the Vice President to make a presentation on Guyana’s model, but more importantly, on having a discussion with other forested countries in defining a global model that can be taken to COP29 and COP30,” President Ali communicated to media operatives.
The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.
The 2024 G20 summit is slated to take place at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November.
In 2022, Guyana signed a contract with Hess Corporation which saw the nation earning US$750 million for 30 per cent of its forest. In Guyana’s agreement, a rate of US$15 per tonne of carbon was secured and so far, 15 per cent ($4.7 billion) is allocated towards Amerindian development.
Already, more than 500 projects that run the gamut from tourism to agriculture are currently being pursued utilising the $4.7 billion, which was given to hundreds of Indigenous villages as part of their share of the US$150 million carbon credits sale.
In addition to its rich biodiversity and ecosystem, Guyana’s total forest cover of some 18.4 million hectares stores more than 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon and removes some 154 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.
This week, it was announced that Guyana was issued with 7.1 million carbon credits dating back to 2021, marking the first time carbon credits have been issued that can be used by airlines in an effort to meet their carbon emission targets for the 2024-2026 period. The credits were issued by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART).
In 2023, it was revealed that Guyana has the potential to raise at least US$2.5 billion from its carbon credits over the next 10 years. According to Vice President Jagdeo, in a presentation at COP28, this can be done by tapping into favourable market upsides.
The Vice President had expressed disappointment over the failure of talks on advancing carbon trading mechanisms at COP28 in Dubai. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement sets out the principles for carbon markets. Article 6.2 caters for bilateral or multilateral emissions trading agreements between countries, while Article 6.4 outlines the creation of a global carbon market overseen by a United Nations entity.
It was expected that countries would further develop rules to govern these markets at COP28. Following days of intense discussions, however, countries failed to agree on the key principles to trade carbon offsets bilaterally. The marathon negotiations collapsed after two opposing sides – one pushing for carbon markets to be available as soon as possible with virtually no restrictions and the other pushing for integrity and transparency to be upheld – failed to come to a consensus. This failure to advance Article 6 now leaves discussions to resume at the next UN climate summit.
Vice President Jagdeo had underscored that while Guyana would not be affected, this delay would have major setbacks for forested countries that were hoping to broker new deals under the much-anticipated global UN-sanctioned market. (G12)