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Carbon tax can cripple local producers – Opposition Leader
By Abena Rockcliffe
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo does not want government to introduce a carbon tax as is being contemplated. He opines that if this is done, local producers, who are already reeling from a struggling economy, will feel further squeeze.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
Jagdeo said this during a recent press conference held at People’s Progressive Party (PPP)’s headquarters at Robb Street, Georgetown.
Addressing the media, Jagdeo leveled a number of criticisms against the government, especially Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman.
Trotman has responsibility for all matters relating to natural resources and the environment.
Jagdeo believes that Trotman does not know what he is doing in relation to the handling of such matters.
The Opposition Leader slammed Trotman’s idea for carbon tax.
Trotman had proposed carbon taxes as he denied any contradiction between government’s policy of having a ‘Green Economy’ and its move to allow oil giant ExxonMobil to operate in Guyana despite recent climate change accusations made against that company.
In October of this year, ExxonMobil was accused by four United States Senators of promoting and funding climate change denials, despite knowing of the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change.
Trotman said that the government will not deny Guyana “the opportunity of economic prosperity simply because we have a green economy”.
The Minister added that there are models around the world showing that the oil exploration and a green economy can be synchronized. He said that it is just a matter of observing and implementing similar programmes here.
Trotman used the example of Norway, which has, through a combination of steep carbon taxes,
Governance Minister, Raphael Trotman
careful management of oil wealth and innovation investments, found a balance between a green environment and economic growth. The money garnered from its oil products is placed in a sovereign wealth fund named the “Government Pension Fund Global,” while all of its energy is run via hydropower.
Trotman said that the Government is currently looking at a Trinidadian model of a tax similar to carbon tax which finances a “Green Fund.”
Jagdeo thinks that this “would not make sense,” since Guyana produces a small amount of carbon emissions. He told the media that it is “very silly” to put in a carbon tax in a country like Guyana.
“I never committed to doing this, because we are not an annex one country under the Kyoto Protocol. We do not have binding targets, we are not required to have a carbon tax or a cap-and-throw-it system, said Jagdeo.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty, which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, based on the premise that global warming exists and man-made CO2 emissions have caused it.
Further to that, Jagdeo said that legislation to begin a carbon tax system in the near future will cripple local producers.
The opposition leader said, “What will happen is that you will push up costs on our producers already reeling from a slowed economy. It would definitely add to the cost of production.
Jagdeo noted that the PPP would not support anything in parliament that will see the implementation of carbon taxes “because there is absolutely no requirement for this to be done.”
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