GUYANA’S lush vegetation has earned it carbon credits, and investors are increasingly interested in purchasing them due to growing global interest in sustainable development and environmental preservation.

Considering that the country received the first TREES credits in history in December 2022 from the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), this was a significant occasion since it was the first time a nation received carbon credits created especially for the voluntary and compliant carbon markets for effectively halting forest loss and degradation (a procedure known as jurisdictional REDD+). After passing the ART Board of Directors’ approval and the independent validation and verification process, ART issued 33.47 million TREES credits to Guyana for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020.

This also paved the way for a historic agreement between Hess Corporation and the Government of Guyana, whereby the oil giants opted to purchase about one-third of all Guyana’s credits (issued and anticipated) up to 2030.

The agreement will generate a minimum of US$750 million for Guyana over the coming decade and represent a major milestone on the journey towards a vision first set out in 2007.

In a recent interview, the Vice President of Guyana, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, said that “we have had a number of people reach out to us, and we are exploring those opportunities.”

Despite some commentary that the value obtained could be higher, according to Vice President Jagdeo, a review of the worldwide voluntary market would indicate that Guyana received an exemplary agreement.

He also explained that the arrangement might provide far more money than that if the credits increase in value when traded in secondary marketplaces. The worth of the carbon that trees store can be determined by the issuance of forest carbon credits by independent verification organisations. Companies can buy these tradeable credits as a method to acknowledge that the carbon stored in forests is one component of the solution to reaching a global climate where one tonne of carbon dioxide has been cut, avoided, or sequestered for every carbon credit.

Vice President Jagdeo also emphasised that despite the Opposition’s commitment to use only renewable energy by the year 2025 when they were in power, they had done nothing to make this a reality. He made mention of the Amaila Hydropower Project, which the opposition had “killed,” and their lack of involvement in Guyana’s NDC’s topic.

He said, “So, we have to resume the consultation and then submit a realistic NDC. So, that’s one of the things that we will move forward on, and hopefully, that will allow us to move closer to some of the markets that are currently available.”

Additionally, providing an update on the Amaila Falls project, Dr. Jagdeo said, “So, we’ve had several proposals directly from companies. And it is our determination that, again, when you have multiple unsolicited proposals, the best way to move forward is to have a request for proposal again in an open process. So, most likely, you would see us re-engage the public through an ad and get these proposals. And then they could be all adjudicated side by side against each other to see which is the best deal.”

In addition, speaking of the numerous opportunities resulting from the forest restoration plan, the Vice President stated, “Because we have had so many proposals, we have decided we would put out a request for proposals so we can have a common basis on which to analyse all the proposals, and the same thing is happening with mangroves.” The Vice President emphasised that there were additional recommendations made through the blue economy arrangement, including planting mangroves for free with no upfront government investment, which will aid in protecting the coastline.

Finally, he said that the government will issue two calls for proposals in the near future. According to Dr. Jagdeo, more regions in the nation would likely come under protection because the government is diligently trying to improve the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), particularly the integrated water management component. Adding that “We are doing an inventory of all the sources of water—water for navigational purposes, water for potable use, drinking water for agriculture, for a whole range of purposes, drainage and irrigation, etc.—so that we can have an integrated management of all of our water resources, which is part of the LCDS, and then we are strengthening the EPA [Environmental Protection Act].”

(This is part of a weekly series on LCDS.) The author can be contacted at cparkinson0206@gmail.com.