Guyana in process of having over 30 million carbon credits certified – VP Jagdeo

– says Guyana will remain net zero even with oil sector

Since the Government relaunched the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and sought to put its carbon credits on the international market, there has been significant interest. The Administration is now in the process of certifying more than 30 million credits.

During a recent press conference, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo revealed that the Administration is currently having over 30 million of its carbon credits certified. The certification is done by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), an international register that lists validated carbon credits.
“Since the PPP got back into the office, we have launched a new, expanded LCDS. And we have been working to get our forest carbon certified. We’ve listed with the Arc Registry, the Architecture for REDD+ transactions.”
“And now we’re in the process of certifying in excess of 30 million credits. We’ve made it known that we’ve solicited offers for the sale of credits. We’ve discussed this publicly. And at the NTC level we had buy-in from the Toshaos,” Jagdeo expressed.
The Vice President also addressed the concerns in some quarters about the message being sent by Guyana’s accelerated production of oil. According to Jagdeo, Guyana will remain a net zero producer of carbon emissions. As he explained, oil produced by the Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessels offshore Guyana is easily covered by Guyana’s carbon sink.
“So, although we are increasing the production of oil, we will still remain a net zero country. In fact, a carbon-negative country. Even with us producing a million barrels per day. So clearly the role of the forests has to be recognised,” Jagdeo explained.
A carbon credit is a tradable permit that allows the holder of the credit the right to emit a specific amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas. Countries and companies that exceed their permitted limits can purchase carbon credits from other nations that have low emissions such as Guyana. Guyana’s 18.4 million hectares of largely pristine forest stores approximately 5.31 gigatons of carbon.
During the Energy Conference and Expo early in the year, Climate Change Advisor Kevin Hogan had announced that the Government planned to put at least eight million carbon credits on the market for sale.
Back in April 2021, President Ali announced that Guyana had signed a letter of intent with a US-based non-profit organisation (NGO), Emergent Finance Accelerated Inc, to market the country’s carbon credits through a credit contract – a deal that could earn the country millions of US dollars.
Last year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Emergent would soon be commencing work towards marketing Guyana’s carbon credits on the world stage. And indeed, the process of seeking proposals has attracted interest in the world market.
Jagdeo has been vocal about the need for the developed world to create incentives for carbon credit products from the developing world, as the fate of the world and carbon emission targets hang in the balance.