Guyana’s extended Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 was put on display at 23rd World Petroleum Congress as a signal to the world that the small South American nation will be leading at the front to advocate for Climate Change actions.
This according to Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar is to give the world a chance to stabilize global temperatures. The Minister is currently representing Guyana at the Congress running up from December 5 to December 9.
The World Petroleum Congress is being held in Houston, Texas, which is recognised as the energy capital of the world with over 4,600 energy firms, a hub of technological innovation and entrepreneurship both within the energy sector and across aligned sectors.
During a panel discussion on Monday titled “Energy Transition – Drivers and Outlook for Climate Change Actions”, Minister Indar took the opportunity to share with the world the overarching concept behind Guyana’s extended LCDS 2030 which includes a broad set of initiatives to ensure that the country remains a model globally with a green growth strategy.
With Guyana being a net carbon sink (which is the ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), Minister Indar said that the country is showing the world the important value of its forest resource.
“We are saying to the world that trees are normally cut down because of agriculture, because of forestry (lumber construction), we have seen trees cut down for mining purposes and our uses and that is the value traditionally was placed on trees.
“But we see trees more valuable alive than they are when they are dead. Our forest is valued right now, annually to between $40 to $54 billion US dollars…that is value of Guyana’s forest now and the world does not see that,” Indar told the News Room on Wednesday.
He added, “People in the global community needs to see the value of forests.”
Guyana’s extended LCDS 2030 – a flagship project by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government – outlines plans and projects for sustainable mining, forest climate services, ecosystem Services, biodiversity services and for clean energy transition to a low carbon future while also considering the country’s budding oil sector.
And on this front, Minister Indar pointed out that Guyana’s LCDS 2030 advocates for carbon pricing and the removal of incentives for fossil fuels.
The panel discussion also included presentations from Minister of Energy of Alberta, Canada, Sonya Savage and the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia, Arifin Tasrif.
The Congress gathers together industry and government leaders from across the world to address all aspects of the industry from technological advances in upstream, midstream, and downstream operations to the role of natural gas and renewables, management of the industry and its social, economic, and environmental impact.
