Carbon credits

Dec 15, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Guyana is now US$750M richer, thanks to its vast canopy of trees, and untouched natural wonderlands. In essence, this country is being paid three quarter billion American dollars to let things be. That is, to do our part in the fight against climate change, help other parties, all foreign, that are more profit driven to have a cushion, and give them a helping hand in their reckless excesses.

As we at this publication view this development concerning carbon credits, it becomes clear that this is what matters boil down to: profit conscious oil companies, and fossil fuel guzzling countries, pay to play. They contaminate and change the conditions under which the world lives, and Guyana collects its millions in carbon credits. We need as much money as we can get, so this has to be a good thing on the face of it. More millions of US dollars for Guyana can only be helpful for Guyanese, but there are some other ingredients to this pot that ought to be brought to light, which we do now.

Simply put, local forests are a huge mass of green capable of absorbing the poisons from ongoing use of fossil fuels, and at the rates that developed countries use the more refined products. The same could be said for those countries lower on the developmental chart that make heavy use of dirtier sources of energy like coal. China and India feature prominently in this category that cannot afford, as yet, to wean away more aggressively from fossil fuels with more damaging impacts. Allowing our forests to be used to provide relief, and get paid for it, is a win-win situation for Guyana.

The question, though, is how much of an impact our commitment to continuingconservation will have on our logging sector and those other sectors that operate in our forested areas. This is our side of the carbon credit bargain that we will have to honor, and the extent to which this is done, could make a difference in the lives of many Guyanese. This includes those employed in interior locations, and those across Guyana that depend on their products for a variety of uses. We are not known to be a people that look favorably upon rules and regulations, and about which our indigenous community can write a big book, possibly several, that reveal the intrusions and assaults on its way of life.

It is helpful, therefore, that the leaders in the PPP/C Government have already stated that a noticeable portion of the carbon credits millions received are earmarked for indigenous communities. This contains both a positive and negative gloss. The positive is that once the millions set aside are employed primarily for the protection and enhancement of those strapped and degraded communities, then carbon credits would have been put to a most constructive purpose. If and when (and it is a matter of when only, there are no ifs) Guyana’s regular politics inserts itself into those millions, then a bigger environmental blight occurs, than when compared to atmospheric damage. Guyana gets the carbon credit money, while the indigenous community gets used and misused in the normal manner that appeals to our ruling Politicians.

Carbon credit dollars, like Oil Fund money, have a common thread: the Guyana Government cannot resist dabbling with them. The dollars are there, so they are up for grabs, and there is no better camouflage than “national development priorities”, for the usual leadership tricks to surface, and this is regardless of how well structured and watched. We are saying it from now: carbon credits, money coming, will turn out to be the newest inviting playground for ruling Politicians.

On top of all this, taking Hess Corporation’s millions is giving the company a helpful boost to pump and profit some more. It is the equivalent of a neighbor paying us, so that he can continue unhindered and uncaring with his damaging pollutions.We can insulate our homes, or buy cheaper earplugs. Something tells us that the PPP/C Government is going to find a better use for some of the US$750M. It will keep its own party, and have a good time with carbon credit cash converted to corrupt uses.