Department of Public Information, Guyana

Tag: Carbon Dioxide

  • Guyana’s LCDS 2030 showing ‘real results’ in climate finance programme

    Guyana’s LCDS 2030 showing ‘real results’ in climate finance programme

    ─ Country maintaining strong environmental credentials – President Ali

    His Excellency, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali says Guyana continues to be a world leader in the management of its forest, with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 showing ‘real results’ in terms of the climate finance programme.

    The head of state, who was speaking during his media conference on Wednesday at Office of the President in Georgetown, pointed to the country’s landmark issuance of the first jurisdictional scale carbon credits.

    President Ali during the press conference at his office on Wednesday

    The sale of carbon credits for the period 2016-2030 has earned Guyana $US750 million inclusive of legacy earnings.

    He noted that the climate financing programme is not only benefitting the coastland, but the hinterland as well, which will benefit from 15 per cent of the carbon credit funds. This amounts to $4.7 billion directly benefitting 242 Amerindian villages.

    To date, more than 200 villages have submitted their village plans and are at various stages of implementation.

    Further, President Ali said government continues to maintain its strong environmental credentials, referencing the fact that more than 85 per cent of its forest is intact. The country has also recorded the lowest deforestation rate since 2010.

    Guyana recorded a 0.036 per cent deforestation rate in 2022, which the president noted was independently verified by remote sensing technology and ground assessments.

    “Even with Guyana’s accelerated development in all corners of the country, we have not only maintained forests, but we have further strengthened our progress in this area,” the head of state noted.

    He highlighted that the country has also managed to maintain its net carbon sink status, this means that the country absorbs more carbon each year that it emits.

    The country continues to retain this status even as its oil and gas sector expands with 10 floating production storage and offloading vessels currently in operation offshore.

    Importantly, the president noted that some 154 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere annually.

    Meanwhile, Guyana has also made significant strides in its transition to clean and renewable energy sources, which is a main objective of the LCDS 2030.

    “Guyana’s energy security is boosted with the signing of the contract for the gas-to-energy project, Guyana’s largest project to date, which will create 300 megawatts of new power and reduce the cost of electricity by 50 per cent,” the president said.

    The president also noted the rapid implementation of renewable energy through off-grid solar systems in Berbice, Linden and Essequibo.  

    Further, 33 megawatts of solar power will be financed using revenue earned from the Guyana/Norway bilateral cooperation which totals US$85 million.

    The gas to energy project which is expected to come on stream by late 2024 and is expected to revolutionise and significantly improve the ease of doing business in Guyana.

  • Sale of carbon credits: $157B for investments in low-carbon development across Guyana

    Sale of carbon credits: $157B for investments in low-carbon development across Guyana

    -LCDS Fact Sheet

    With the signing of the historic carbon credits sale agreement between the Government of Guyana and Hess Corporation on December 2, Guyana anticipates issuing about 7.5 million credits per year, on average from 2021 to 2030 – so the Hess deal is for the purchase of about one-third of all Guyana’s credits (issued and anticipated) up to 2030.

    Signing of the historic carbon credits sale agreement with Hess Corporation on December 2, 2022 at State House

    The agreement will generate a minimum of US$750 million for Guyana over the coming decade and represents a major milestone on the journey towards a vision first set out in 2007. On its own, the agreement will see approximately GY$157 billion invested in low-carbon development across the country, with GY$31.5 billion of this allocated to village-led development.

    Request for proposals (RFP)

    A Request for Proposals (RFP) for potential buyers of Guyana’s credits was issued in March 2022.

    Pristine Forest Landscape of Guyana with 18 million hectares of forests kept intact at over 99% coverage.

    Following the RFP, December 2 saw the announcement of the world’s first sale of jurisdiction-scale carbon credits for Guyana’s forest climate services – with Hess Corporation committing to purchase 37.5 million ART-TREES [ Architecture for REDD+ Transactions-The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard] credits consisting of:

    − 12.5 million of the 33.47 million carbon credits issued for the period 2016-2020

    − 2.5 million per annum from the credits to be issued each year from 2021 to 2030

    They will pay a minimum of:

    −US$15 per credit for 2016-2020

    −US$20 per credit for 2021 – 2025

    −US$25 per credit for 2026-2030

    Each credit represents 1 tonne of Co2e [carbon dioxide equivalent], which is the standard metric used for carbon credits – while the agreed prices represent a significant increase above the US$5/t Co2e under the Guyana-Norway Agreement. 

    As determined during the national consultation:

    −85% of revenues will be allocated to multi-community and national programmes,

    −15% of revenues will be dedicated to village-led plans for indigenous villages and communities.

    Internationally recognised high-integrity carbon credits

    From mid-2021 to the end of June 2022, the Government assessed potential voluntary carbon markets standards, comparing them against Guyana’s objectives, as well as current and future UNFCCC requirements. Small-scale project-based standards were not appropriate, while ART-TREES was assessed as the best standard available for Guyana.

    ART-TREES credits are recognised as some of the highest-integrity credits in the market.

    A statement from WRI, Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Re:wild, as members of the Forests for Life Partnership addressed the high integrity of ART-TREES credits:

    “HFLD-labelled credits issued under ART-TREES 2.0 [the specific type of credits issued for Guyana] have high environmental integrity because credits fully address legitimate additionality, conservativeness and permanence, and counteract international leakage, reward forest stewardship by Indigenous Peoples, and incentivize action at scale while avoiding perverse incentives. “

    These core elements of the credits’ high integrity are:

    Jurisdictional scale – They represent the value of carbon stored at a country level rather than at a project level, avoiding issues of leakage and promoting outcomes that protect the ecosystem rather than just carbon storage or removal functions.

    Additional – Exclusive reliance on historical baselines does not adequately represent current and future pressures that HFLD jurisdictions face. ART HFLD credits reward countries and subnational jurisdictions for acting to retain large, highly intact forests, including through monitoring, law enforcement, conservation, and regulation, among other measures.

    Permanent- The insurance mechanisms required by the standard (e.g., buffer pools) ensure that the overall atmospheric benefit of these credits will be maintained, even if reversals occur in some locations.

    Avoid perverse incentives. ART HFLD credits help to alleviate concerns that REDD+ can create perverse incentives by disproportionately rewarding jurisdictions that have experienced the highest rates of deforestation.

    Issuance of credits

    The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) led and managed the application to the ART Secretariat for Phase II of the LCDS vision.

    The ART Secretariat is an independent Secretariat that reports to a separate independent Board, which makes the final decisions relating to the issuance of ART-TREES credits.

    Adherence to the standards by a jurisdiction – such as Guyana – is validated and verified by an independent firm.  In the case of credits for Guyana for the period 2016-2020, Guyana underwent a 12-month verification and validation process before the credits were approved for issuance.

  • Public Infrastructure Ministry working on action plan – to address aviation sector carbon emissions

    Public Infrastructure Ministry working on action plan – to address aviation sector carbon emissions

    Georgetown, GINA, May 17, 2016

     In September, Guyana will be represented at another high-level meeting on Global Market-Based Measure (MBM) Scheme, even as the country prepares an action plan that deals with what small states intend to do to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions in the aviation sector.

    The MBM scheme, according to the ICAO website is “a basket of measures designed to help achieve ICAO’s global aspirational goals. The basket of options is available to states to address international aviation CO2 emissions and encompasses technological, operational and market-based measures.”

    Government of Guyana officials recently participated at the first International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) High-level Meeting on a Global Market-Based Measure (MBM) Scheme in Montreal, Canada. The meeting was part of ICAO’s global initiative to reduce carbon emissions, and to move to a carbon neutral growth from 2020. This is according to Air Transport Management Director acting, of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Saheed Sulaman who attended the meeting.

    According to Sulaman, Guyana’s participation at that meeting was important because “climate change affects most developing countries because they are more vulnerable and we don’t have the resources or the mechanisms to implement facilities quickly enough to cushion ourselves from the impact of climate change. Therefore, it is important from that standpoint that developing countries such as Guyana attend these meetings to voice our concern.”

    Sulaman explained that emphasis must be placed on the aviation sector which largely contributes to climate change. Currently local aviation is responsible for 2% of global CO2 emissions, and international aviation, 1.2%.

    “We only have two operators with small aircraft, namely Trans Guyana Airways and Roraima Airways that do international flights. Those planes are so small that they could be exempted from the MBM scheme, so it is important for us to voice our concerns how this scheme will affect small states, and what mechanism small states need to implement,” Sulaman said.

    The objective of the meeting was to get consensus from all 191 ICAO member states for a draft framework to be established to address the CO2 emissions through market- based measures.

    The ICAO is working to achieve technical, operational, and infrastructure enhancements, sustainable alternative fuels, a CO2 standard for aircraft, and the development of a global market-based measure which will aid in addressing climate change.

    Climate change is the biggest problem of the human beings and one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing all countries.