Guyana to sign 1st sale agreement on carbon credits today

Guyana will sign its first sale agreement on carbon credits today with President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali witnessing the historic initiative at State House, Main Street, Georgetown.
Speaking at the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber’s Annual Awards and Induction Ceremonial Dinner on Wednesday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said Guyana would be the only country in the world that would boast the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) credit.
“We quickly work on an expanded Low Carbon Development Strategy and in 2020, the US and others through the LEAF Coalition and then the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions was established and we made an application for them to certify our credit.

“We had gone to the market already; we had a request for proposals, we have received those and the first sale will take place. So, that will be credit all the way from 2016, because those were the legacy credit that we applied for and hopefully it will bring in billions of US dollars,” he explained.
The Vice President noted, too, the need for the oil and gas resources to help on the adaptation side, for Guyana to be more climate resilient. The Vice President reminded of the Government’s support for net zero and the removal of subsidies from fossil fuel production and air decarbonisation.
Back in September, President Ali related that the Government has been carefully weighing global events and developments, and how they may influence the sale of Guyana’s carbon credits, when it decides to go out on the market.
He nevertheless assured that there was still great interest in Guyana’s carbon credits, which are a tradable permit that countries can purchase. The Government’s approach to the issue, he said, would be multi-dimensional.
“There’s great interest. I can tell you there’s great interest in Guyana’s carbon. They went out for an Expression of Interest. So, there’s that analysis that is going on right now, to develop the best. It must be a multi-dimensional approach, from all that I’ve analysed from what we have,” the President said.
“So, it has to be a multi-dimensional approach. And that is where a lot of critical thinking would occur. Because whether you have the direct approach to the market in some instances, or only an integrated approach through the facilitation process, so these are some of the things that we have to address.”
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 by July of this year.
A carbon credit is a tradable permit or certificate that allows the holder of the credit the right to emit a stated tonnage of carbon dioxide or an equivalent of another greenhouse gas. Countries and companies that exceed their permitted limits can purchase carbon credits from 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.

Back in April 2021, President Ali had announced that Guyana had signed a letter of intent with US-based Non-Profit Organisation, 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 t Jagdeo had 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 on the world market.
Jagdeo has been vocal about the need for the developed world to create the incentives for carbon credit products from the developing world, as the fate of the world and carbon emission targets hang in the balance.
Jagdeo had noted that deforestation and land use change contribute 16 per cent of total greenhouse gases. As such, he further noted that the world would never achieve net zero if these primary sources of emissions were not addressed.