Indigenous communities to receive 1st payment from carbon sales today – Ali

…says LCDS must become a global model of sustainable development

In what will be a historic move and a fulfilled promise, the hinterland communities in Guyana will receive the first tranche of payments from Guyana’s carbon credit sales today as part of the 15 per cent share the Government had guaranteed will go to the Indigenous peoples.
This was announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali on Tuesday, during his keynote address at the Guyana Energy Conference and Expo ongoing at the Marriott Hotel. He informed the room full of dignitaries, oil and gas industry professionals and delegates that these payments are made possible by a policy Guyana developed and implemented – the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

“While there is fanciful talk on how to help the Indigenous people, on Wednesday, because of what the LCDS has earned for Guyana, Toshaos and leaders of our Amerindian villages, will receive a cheque in their hands for the people of those villages as a result of the LCDS and what it has earned for Guyana.”
“And we are not telling them (how to spend it). They have a cheque for the development of their community. And yet there is some who say to some of the Toshaos, don’t pick up the cheque, leave it. But I want to see which Toshao will not pick up the cheque and explain to their people why they didn’t pick up the cheque,” Ali further said.
It is understood that the first tranche will come from Guyana’s carbon credit sales to Hess Corporation, as per the 10-year agreement signed last year for the purchase of 37.5 million credits at US$750 million. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has said that the Indigenous communities will get 15 per cent or $23 billion, which they will spend according to their village development plans.
Meanwhile, speaking to the value of Guyana’s carbon credit potential, Ali also acknowledged the role played by former President Jagdeo in crafting the first LCDS. President Ali went on to emphasise that the LCDS is no longer purely a “Guyanese” concept. In fact, the President said that he wanted the LCDS to become a global model on sustainable development.
“When we speak about development and transformation and the positioning of Guyana, it’s not guesswork. Its careful, calculating, policymaking aimed at transforming things. It calls for big thinking. First of all, before you have big thinking, you have to have ideas. The LCDS is not an idea. The LCDS is the demonstration of a practical document.”
“Guyana’s position is to make the LCDS a global model for sustainable development. The LCDS is no longer a Guyana document. We’re embarking on a mission to make the LCDS a global model for sustainable development. Because we know what the LCDS is capable of,” Ali said.

The money being paid to the Indigenous people today are part of legacy payments Guyana is receiving for pre-2021 carbon credits. In explaining the Hess deal, Jagdeo had previously outlined that for the period 2021 to 2025, Guyana’s carbon credit would be sold for US$20 per tonne, thus earning the country another US$250 million; while another US$312 million is expected during the 2025 to 2030 period when the credit would be sold at US$25 per tonne.
He explained that these figures are the minimum earnings and could be increased in the future if the global market prices for the sale of carbon credit change. In such an event, Guyana stands to benefit from 60 per cent of that increased price.
Unlike, the arrangements with the Norway deal, payments from this Hess agreement go directly into the Treasury as revenue but will be placed in a separate account for auditing and parliamentary accountability purposes as well as to allow for easy access to financing.
The 33.7 million credits being sold to Hess Corp is just 30 per cent of the carbon sink contained in Guyana’s vast forest cover. The country’s more than 18 million hectares of forest is estimated to store approximately 20 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The remaining 70 per cent of carbon credit will be put on the market for future sale agreements. (G3)