Fossil fuel of the future should come from countries like Guyana – VP

…not optimistic about COP28
…disappointed with outcome of G20 meeting

With the Group of 20 (G20) major economies having met in India and failed to reach consensus on critical climate matters, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said he is not too optimistic about the outcome of the upcoming COP28, as he maintained his position that fossil fuel of the future should come from developing countries like Guyana.
The G20 bloc of wealthy economies, having met several days ago, failed to reach a consensus on phasing down fossil fuels, after objections by some producer nations. They also failed to reach consensus on mobilising US$100 billion per year for climate action in developing economies from 2020-2025. Reports are that the G20 member countries together account for over three-quarters of global emissions and gross domestic product.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo said he fears that the same issues that characterised the G20 meeting would take place at COP28, to be held in the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12.
“…where you’ll have a confrontation between those who believe that you don’t need to phase down fossil fuel production at this stage, because there is a global demand for fossil fuel and it’s growing, and those who believe that you have to not just phase it down, but phase it out…,” he said. “If that continues and that debate is taken to the next COP in that manner, it will fail,” he predicted.
President Dr Irfaan Ali is slated to deliver an address at COP28, and according to VP Jagdeo, Ali’s speech will be comprehensive.
“It’s a combination of reducing fossil fuel production, increasing the output of renewable, and then addressing deforestation and then new technology…If we go in with that mindset, ‘Let’s explore the broad spectrum of solutions’, I think we can come out with some agreement… but if it goes in the same manner (as G20 meeting), it will be a failure,” Jagdeo predicted.
“I’m not very optimistic, but we’re going there to try to push, hopefully to ensure we have a bigger search outside of shutting down versus continuation, that there is a bigger search for solutions with more ideas on the table,” he disclosed.

Fossil fuel of the future
The Guyana Government has long posited that fossil fuel would still be needed in the future, and according to VP Jagdeo, this should come from developing countries.
“The fossil fuel of the future should come from countries that need the production to enhance not just the welfare of their people, but also to fund their adaptation needs…,” he posited.
“When the Secretary General of the United Nations says, ‘No new investment in fossil fuel’, he is effectively saying, ‘Preserve not just the entire future of all fossil fuel production for the existing countries: Norway, Russia, the United States, Saudia Arabia, but also preserve future growth of fossil fuel output for those countries. So, nothing for you in the developing world…’”, he explained.
“And we find that essentially unjust and unfair to the many developing countries in Africa, here in this region, and many other parts of the world, who are trying to take their people out of poverty,” Jagdeo asserted.
In fact, he reasoned that Guyana, “even at maximum peak [oil] production, we will still be a carbon negative; not just a carbon neutral, but a carbon negative country.” As such, he said, it is “unreasonable to expect Guyana to limit its production, when…the developed world, they’re refusing to cut their production. In fact, they’re increasing their output of fossil fuel…and they’re the ones who’ve used up most of their carbon allowance…”
At a regional energy conference earlier this year, President Ali had pointed out that the global energy consumption rebounded by 5% in 2021, as compared with the 4.5% fall in 2020, according to the World Energy and Consumption Yearbook for 2021. Further, he outlined that the global primary energy consumption for 2021 is recorded at 176,431 terawatt hours, with the four main sources of power consumed being oil at 29%, coal at 24%, natural gas at 22% and hydropower at 6%.

Funding
Meanwhile, on the issue of funding, Jagdeo lamented that the developed world is not fulfilling its basic promise to set aside US$100 billion per year for climate action. In fact, he said he had raised the issue with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his recent visit to Guyana.
“They have all of these fancy accounting now to show that they’re doing almost 75 per cent of it…but when you check it really, majority of it is loans to countries that cannot afford, because their fiscal interests cannot afford to take more loans…
“I raised this in the discussion with Secretary of State Blinken at State House.
I said, ‘It’s not just the funding, but addressing the institutions that intermediate the funds, because a lot of them are not fit for purpose, and they’re slow between the availability of funds and their delivery is unbelievably…’.”
President Ali had previously explained that there is a regional target to achieve a total of 47 per cent renewable energy by 2027; but, to date, only 11.5 per cent has been attained. Highlighting that the region is far behind its set target, President Ali also pointed out that the only known available financing to achieve this target is with the Caribbean Development Bank, which has a loan portfolio of US$1.4 billion. According to President Ali, a minimum of US$11 billion is needed to achieve just the fundamentals of target. In this regard, he had contended “We can safely say that, in this region, fossil fuel and natural gas has a long future ahead of us.” Nevertheless, he had said Governments have to be nimble, flexible, and innovative when it comes to their responsibilities in regard to energy security and creating a greener economy. He used as an example Guyana’s move to sell its carbon credits, referencing the recent deal with Hess Corporation within which a minimum of US$750 million up to 2030 will be paid to Guyana. This money, among other things, will be used to achieve the objects set out in the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo has urged the local critics that continue to argue that Guyana is not doing enough in its fight against climate change to take a look at the situation in the global context.
“Whilst some people here believe that we’re not doing enough to abate this potential global disaster, the countries that matter, that generate most of the emissions, they’re not taking the tough decisions…” he said. (G11)