THE Conference of Parties (COP) 26 has now come to an end after over two weeks of intense discussions and some tough negotiations. And while many will be disappointed with some of the agreements reached, especially in terms of reducing carbon emissions to desired levels, there are encouraging indications that some progress, even though measured, were made in terms of deforestation, financial assistance for developing countries to help then transition to greener energy and an end to subsidies for fossil fuel.

One contentious issue was the call by developing countries to create a financial mechanism for wealthy countries to pay for loss and damage caused by climate change, especially for vulnerable countries. This had, in the past, been resisted by the richer nations — a situation that did not go unnoticed in the final communique of the COP. It noted ‘with deep regret’, the failure to deliver on an earlier promise to fully disburse US$100 billion by 2020 through to 2025.

Of significance to many oil-producing country, including Guyana, is that even though the vast majority of countries have agreed to speed up the end of fossil-fuel subsidies, there was no consensus on an exact timeframe for a complete transition to non-fossil fuel consumption, which could possibly drag on well into the second half of this century.  There is still a window of opportunity for Guyana to take advantage of its huge oil reserves amounting to billions of barrels and have these harvested well in advance of any unspecified drop-dead timeline.

Guyana, unlike other oil-producing nations that have become super-rich because of the drilling of their oil and gas, must be given that opportunity to benefit from its carbon resources. This does not in any way imply any irresponsible exploitation of such resources, especially in the context of possible environmental risks. To now insist, as some ‘experts’ seem to be doing, to cease all further drilling operations with respect to oil and gas is at best disingenuous, if not anti-national.

Guyana is an integral part of the global community of nations, which means that it cannot isolate itself from what happens at the international market place. We live in a competitive world, one in which every country is looking out for opportunities to advance the cause of their respective populations. Guyana is no different, and as pointed out by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the country cannot reasonably be expected to leave its oil in the ground while the bigger and wealthier oil-producing nations are given free rein to maximise their incomes from oil and gas.

The fact that many of the pledges made by the industrialised world to mitigate the impact of climate change and financial assistance to facilitate an easier transition to non-fossil fuel have not materialized, only adds to the imperative of Guyana to maximise its returns from oil and gas and as the saying goes, ‘Make hay while the sun shines.’

The Government of Guyana is committed to pursuing policies to ensure that its oil and gas sector operates to international standards and are fully aligned to its overarching goal of a low- carbon development strategy.