Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly last September, President David Granger reiterated his Administration’s commitment to converting Guyana into a “green state”: “It is a state that will ensure a secure future for its people in the pursuit of a ‘green’ economy. It is one that is proud of its place as a reliable and cooperative partner in international efforts to protect the earth’s environment.” He pledged Guyana to “work towards the UN’s Agenda’s goals, particularly, by contributing to limiting increases in global temperatures”. Without making explicit linkages, he was continuing along the path blazed by the Bharrat Jagdeo’s PPP/C Administration that had launched a “Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) back in 2009. Since then, several countries, including Norway and Japan, have extended help to Guyana in its efforts to build a green economy. Fighting the impact of climate change then, can be seen as an initiative that has the unequivocal support of both parties across the political divide. Presenting the 2017 budget, it surprised no one when Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced its theme: “Building a Diversified, Green Economy: Delivering the Good Life to All Guyanese.” However, the incoming Donald Trump US Administration might just throw a spammer into that plan. The US President-elect is on record as unequivocally rejecting global warning: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive,” he once tweeted. His actions since the election have simply that position apart from his stating very clearly that he envisages the US increasing its exploitation of fossil fuels. Presently, improvements in technology have allowed the US to become one of the top producers of petroleum from its shale deposits and Trump has reiterated his commitment to an “America first” energy policy that is centred on fossil fuels – even coal. Trump’s nominee to head the very powerful and critical US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has expressed scepticism about climate change, and he helped spearhead a lawsuit by 28 states to try to overturn President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. He had been one of the most vocal critics of the EPA and has vowed to change its orientation. Other agencies such as the Department of Interior will also be headed by individuals who are climate change sceptics. More recently, the level to which Trump will go to derail even the US’s present tepid efforts to combat climate change can be gauged from the 74 questions his transition team submitted to the Department of Energy (DoE). All of the questions that relate to present US policy on climate change question its premises. Believing, inter alia, that the request for the names of the scientists who participated in UN conferences on climate change presaged a witch hunt, the DoE has refused to comply with the request. From a Guyanese standpoint, with the US acting as a brake on efforts of the leading economies in the developed world to fight climate change, our value as a net “carbon sink”, which President Granger emphasised to Parliament earlier this year, will take a beating. The carbon credits that we could have earned from net polluters such as the US will definitely either disappear or become trivial. However, our own investments in alternative energy sources such as wind and solar will not be unrewarded since countries such as China and India that are also determined to use climate change mitigation as a spur to their economies will lower the costs of those technologies. On the other hand, while Trump’s nomination of the chief of ExxonMobil as his Secretary of State might also indicate his ties to the fossil fuel interests, we should remember that we are on the cusp of sharing those interests and we might be in a win-win scenario. Additionally, Guyana will now become possibly more than just a blip on the US State Department’s radar.
