Considerations for a regime to enable ‘reduced emissions from avoided fossil fuel extraction’, and ‘reduced emissions from fossil fuel extraction’

By Rear Admiral (Rtd.) Gary A. R. Best
Presidential Advisor on the Environment
OVER the past decades, the Republic of Guyana has gained some significant international prominence as a nation that is conscious of its role in preserving the Earth’s climate.This began in the 1990s with the establishment of the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development (IIC), which set aside 371,000 hectares of rain forests as a

dedicated site for research and development in testing the concept of sustainable foresting; the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which placed most of our natural forests under sustainable management through a payment for ecosystems services bilateral with the Kingdom of Norway; and, more recently, the Green Economy Pathway (GEP), identified by Guyana as its principal vehicle to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the promised good life.

The first two initiatives — the IIC and the LCDS — contribute significantly to sustainable management of Guyana’s forest through carbon storage, avoided deforestation, and sequestration. The more recent initiative, the GEP, can anticipate carbon sequestration, low emissions across sectors, and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The oil and gas we intend to harvest offshore belong to the family of fossil fuels; so let us look briefly at fossil fuels. Generally speaking, fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural anaerobic decomposition processes of buried dead organisms, which contain energy through millions of years of photosynthesis actions. These actions occur both at sea and on land.

However, fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal contain high percentages of carbon. When they are harvested for extraction, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, and this contributes to global warming. In other words, the carbon that is produced during extraction operations is far greater than the Earth’s capacity to absorb.

Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon, such as hydrogen ratios like methane and liquids like petroleum, to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like anthracite coal. Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields either alone or associated with natural gas.

It is important to note that fossil fuels are considered non-renewable resources even though they are continually being formed through natural processes. This non-technical classification is because fossils take millions of years to form, but their regenerative capacity is vastly outstripped by current consumption rates. What this appears to mean is that we need to slow down the Earth’s rate of extraction so that regenerative and consumptive capacities are somewhat equal.

So how should we harvest them? Given Guyana’s carbon storage and sequestration history, its payment for ecosystem services pilot through the LCDS and its recent commitment to green economy and emissions reductions, it is suggested that offshore oil exploration should be conducted in a sustainable manner, with particular emphasis on carbon storage. In this context, I offer for consideration the concept of a ‘Reduced Emissions from Avoided Fossil Fuel Extraction’ (REAFFE). Under a REAFFE-type regime, Guyana would receive payments for not harvesting its offshore oil and natural gas. In this vein, Guyana would offer to retain its reserves unharvested, crediting for a fee the carbon stored to country (countries) under a current or new emissions trading scheme. Such payments should be a direct transfer into the Consolidated Fund for national development, with particular emphasis on alternative energies as the replacement energy source. Such a move would be consistent with our natural resources’ management thrust over the decades.

I also offer for consideration establishment of the concept of a ‘Reduced Emissions from Fossil Fuel Extraction’ (REFFE). Under a REFFE modality, Guyana would seek to extract as much carbon as possible while harvesting its oil and natural gas resources. Indeed, it is more likely than not that in the not-too-distant future, oil and natural gas and coal producing nations would be mandated to remove carbon during their production phases. Further, it would be less costly to infuse the technology now, rather than through a retrofit at a later stage. After all, based on current figures, Guyana’s oil and natural gas reserves approximate to in excess of sixty years of harvesting. So change in technological extraction is more than likely to be relevant to our future. Fortunately, technological innovation and research have begun.

Let us look at two technologies that Guyana can consider. Thanks to a novel technology developed by researchers of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the production of energy from natural gas without generating carbon dioxide emissions could fast become a reality. In a joint project initiated by Nobel Laureate and former IASS Scientific Director Professor Carlo Rubbia, the two institutions have been researching an innovative technique to extract hydrogen from methane in a clean and efficient way. According to Science Daily, methane cracking itself is not an entirely new idea; in the last two decades, many experiments carried out in different institutions have proven its technical feasibility. Instead of burning methane (CH4), its molecular components — hydrogen (H2) and carbon (C) — can be separated in a process called ‘methane cracking’. This reaction occurs at high temperatures (750°C and above) and does not release any harmful emissions.

The second technology is ‘carbon capture and storage’ (CCS). Referred to at times as carbon capture and sequestration, CCS is a process of collecting carbon dioxide that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere by industrial and power-generating sources. The collected carbon dioxide is pumped deep underground for long-term storage. Because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, CCS is often discussed as a potential solution to climate change, and it is consistent with Guyana’s GEP and its commitment to reduce emissions.

However, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the technology is still in the developmental stage, and has not yet been proven effective at commercial scale over the long term. Notwithstanding the stage of the technology, I believe that Guyana should wrap its intended production of oil and natural gas around a REAFFE or a REFFE-type model, in order to secure the good life as promised, and remain consistent as good stewards of our natural capital. We should therefore carefully consider not landing oil or natural gas with embedded carbon onto our shores for further refining activities, lest we threaten that ‘good’ life.

(Comments can be sent to towardsagoodlife@gmail.com)

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]Mr. Gary A. R. Best is a retired Rear Admiral and former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force. He is an attorney-at-law and is the Presidential Advisor on the Environment. He is a PhD candidate at the University of the West Indies. He holds a BSc in Nautical Science (Brazil) and Masters Degrees from the University of the West Indies and the University of London. His research areas include climate change governance, climate change finance, international relations, and environmental law.
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