Carbon credit sales for 2025 to hit US$200M by year-end

– as preparations are ongoing for the next carbon sale

Under the Revised Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, Guyana is expected to bring in some US$200 million from the sale of the country’s highly accredited and certified carbon credits by the end of this year.
President Dr Irfaan Ali made this announcement on Tuesday while addressing the first meeting of the LCDS 2030 Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (MSSC) at the Office of the President in Georgetown.

Crafted since 2009 by then President Bharrat Jagdeo, the LCDS was revised under the last Ali-led Administration and reintroduced in 2022.
Building from the 2009 Guyana-Norway Agreement, which saw Guyana earning US$227 million for the period 2009 to 2015, Guyana went on to launch various initiatives over the last three years that saw the country earning millions of dollars, especially from the sale of its carbon credits, which have been certified by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) TREES mechanism.
“By the end of this year, we expect total revenues from carbon credit sales for the year to near US$200 million, which will mean that in the three years since we worked together to finalise the LCDS 2030, Guyana will have received around US$400 million. No other country in the world has achieved these successes,” the Guyanese Head of State declared.
The Guyana Government is expected to report on all revenues received for 2025 early next year.
With a tropical forest that takes up 86 per cent of its landmass, Guyana has the second-highest percentage of forest cover on earth and one of the lowest deforestation rates. The forest stores 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon and sequesters more than 153 million tonnes annually.

Carbon credits
Back in 2022, Guyana was issued with 33.4 million tonnes of ART-certified carbon credits – the first jurisdictional-scale programme in the world.
In December 2022, the country entered into a historic US$750 million multi-year deal with United States energy major Hess Corporation for the sale of the high-quality carbon credits until 2030, starting with retrospective credits that fill the revenue gap for 2016 to 2020.
Then in 2024, Guyana was issued 7.14 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 in the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) market – the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s global emissions reduction programme.
Using the country’s certified carbon credits, President Ali disclosed that, “In the past year, we have sold credits to Apple and to 20 airlines through our partnership with IATA (International Air Transport Association), demonstrating the integrity and credibility of Guyana’s system to the most demanding buyers in the world.”

Investments
The Guyana Government has been investing the monies earned from the carbon credit sales into the country’s LCDS priorities, with a portion of these revenues – a guaranteed 15 per cent, but 20 per cent in practice – going directly into some 240 Amerindian and Hinterland communities for various economic development projects.
According to the Guyanese leader, “We will progress the next phase of carbon credit sales, ensuring that revenues continue to deliver results for the people of Guyana.”
Nevertheless, during Tuesday’s MSSC meeting, President Ali pointed out that the LCDS is a national partnership that connects “our forests, our economy, and our future.”
He emphasised that the strategy is not just a Government plan but a people-driven pathway for inclusive growth, integrating forest protection, renewable energy, and community development. To this end, he reminded the committee that the LCDS has evolved into a framework that integrates environmental protection and economic expansion.
“Every development plan we pursue has the LCDS and the ideals of the LCDS built into those plans… Thousands of local projects are already improving livelihoods, creating jobs, and driving innovation,” the Head of State noted.
The President stressed that the LCDS is fully embedded in national policy and emphasised that development and environmental protection are not opposing goals but rather are the “twin pillars of a new model for prosperity.”