The Guyana Government has advanced efforts to have the nation’s 2021 carbon credits audited and certified.
The oil-producing State with a headstrong mandate to build a “green economy” is using The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) for this process.
ART is considered a global initiative that seeks to incentivize governments to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), as well as restore forests and protect intact forests (+), hence the abbreviation REDD+.
Importantly, ART is governed by a Board of globally recognized experts and operated by an independent Secretariat, hosted by Winrock International.
ART’s standard for the measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification of emission reductions and removals from the forest sector is called TREES. This stands for : The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard.
ART’s Secretariat announced on Friday that it approved two documents for Guyana to advance the 2021 validation process. They are a TREES registration document for the 2021 to 2025 crediting period and a monitoring report for 2021.
ART said the approval of these documents reflect their completeness and readiness for independent verification and validation by an accredited body. Following this, the ART Board will issue serialized TREES credits which Guyana can then monetize.
Stakeholder comments regarding these documents may be sent to [email protected]. Comments received within 30 days would be sent to the programme managers as well as their selected validation body.
Guyana has already completed the validation of carbon credits for the period 2016 to 2020. It is actually the first country to be issued these credits using the ART platform.
Hess Corporation and the Government of Guyana inked an agreement last year for the American oil explorer to purchase approximately 30 percent of the high quality carbon credits issued for a minimum of US$750 million between 2022 and 2032.
This agreement will serve to support the country’s efforts to protect its vast forests and provide capital to improve citizens’ lives through investments made by the Government as part of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.
Guyana has already received its first payment for carbon credits under the agreement totalling US$75 million. It will be incorporated into the nation’s 2023 budget set for reading on Monday, January 16.
