President Ali takes crusade for ‘frank, balanced’ discussion on oil & gas to Europe

While Guyana pursues rapid oil and gas development, the President pointed to its leadership on the environment. Guyana is part of the Amazon region and 85% of its land area is covered in forests.

Guyana has long pursued payments for keeping the rainforest and recently, under the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions – the United Nations mechanism on avoided deforestation – Hess Corporation agreed to purchase high quality carbon credits for a minimum of $750 million between 2022 and 2032. This funding will feed projects under the Low Carbon Development Strategy – the roadmap the country is using to preserve the forest while building the economy.

The credits Hess bought is only 30% of what Guyana can be issued and with growing interest from many partners, President Ali wants the European Union to buy into the carbon credit scheme and receive a commitment ahead of the next UN Climate Summit in the United Arab Emirates.

“When is the EU going to come onboard in terms of being a purchaser of carbon credit and contributing to this market?

“These are the real questions.”