This was according to Mr. Roger Adams, Executive Director – Policy for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), who is responsible for co-coordinating and managing ACCA’s global policy positions on a range of professional issues, including sustainability and corporate responsibility, and who is also a visiting professor at the University of the West of England.

Adams was present for the 27th Annual Caribbean Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) at the Guyana International Conference Centre in Liliendaal, last Friday.

There he addressed the issue of ‘Going Green: The future of alternative energy’.

Adams, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, stated that the world’s financial minds can contribute to the fight against global warming by broadening the criteria for the investments they make.

He explained that, currently, business leaders and finance personnel decide on where and in what to invest, based on the financial benefits.

However, he explained that by considering the carbon profits of the competing investment projects, coupled with the financial benefits, decision-makers can contribute to the sustainability of the environment.

Global Warming and Guyana
The Earth’s surface has been warming rapidly over the last century, compared with thousands of years before.

This is due to the amount of carbon dioxide that has been emitted into the air from the use of petroleum fuels in industry, transportation and homes, among others.

If this warming trend is not stopped then, globally, the sea level will rise to levels of between three to six feet higher than at present. This will increase flooding, droughts, loss of crops, famine and disease worldwide.

Guyana, like most low-lying coastal states, is vulnerable to climate change because of its low-lying coastlands, where most of the infrastructure, settlements, and agricultural lands are located.

These stand to be destroyed by rises in sea level and extreme weather events, if global warming continues.

One of the major contributors to global warming is tropical deforestation, where, globally, over 20% of greenhouse gases originate.

Addressing the issue of tropical deforestation is now one of the global priorities for combating climate change.

Combating Climate Change
While most forested countries have high rates of deforestation, with their forest areas on the decline, Guyana has over 80% of its land area covered in forest, which amounts to approximately 16 million hectares.

As a developing country, Guyana can choose to utilise its forests to extract its resources to obtain revenue, which we need for growth and development as a nation.

The Government of Guyana believes that the forests can be protected and maintained in the effort to reduce global carbon emissions and, at the same time, attract resources for our country to grow and develop.

In order to do this effectively in the long term, a clear vision and a plan on how to get there was developed and is called Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

The Low Carbon Development Strategy has three main components:

* Investment in low carbon economic infrastructure;

* Investment and employment in low carbon economic sectors; and

* Investment in Communities and Human capital.

Guyana’s strategy and the Business Environment

Adams lauded this initiative and pointed out that it was a step in the right direction as it was moving away from conventional uses of forests and exploring new avenues.

He compared this move to technology and stated that, just as technology adapts to a changing world, so should a nation’s development policies.

Adams went on to explain that, in the past, many economists had pricing mechanisms that did not place a value on carbon or bio-diversity, among other unconventional commodities.

To this end, Adams explained that finance personnel and business leaders of today can respond to this problem by moving towards establishing pricing mechanisms and developing markets for the non-traditional products.

He stated that when the relevant stakeholders in the business environment get involved investment flows of capital will be the change factor that will make a lasting impact.

The ACCA affiliate asserted that collaborative efforts are needed as the global financial crisis would be over in time, but climate change will not.

“What is needed, along with better regulations by governments, is a change in the corporate culture,” Adams posited.

His enlightened views were in sync with a statement that Minister of Finance had made at a press briefing, prior to the ICAC Conference.

At the briefing he said that the forum would foster a better understanding of the ways in which current global events are affecting the Caribbean region, so that the Caribbean private sector can be better placed to respond to, and grow within, the prevailing global environment.

By engaging the issue of ‘Going Green: The future of alternative energy’, Adams expressed the hope that the regional stakeholders in the business environment would indeed be positioned to contribute to the sustainability of the environment.