Indigenous communities could get about $80B more when remaining carbon credits sold – Jagdeo

Indigenous communities across Guyana could get direct payments of about $80 billion in coming years once Guyana’s remaining carbon credits from its forests are sold, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said on Thursday.

Already, a US$22 million (about GY$4.7 billion) sum paid by the Hess Corporation is available for distribution to the 242 Indigenous communities across Guyana.

Each community is getting funds ranging between GY$10 million and GY$35 million from the first set of carbon payments from the Hess Corporation.

“Of the 242 villages that received monies in their bank accounts, and they received $4.6 billion in their bank account earlier this year, 220 already submitted their village plans to spend the money,” Jagdeo said at a press conference held on Thursday at Freedom House, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Headquarters in Georgetown.

Last December, Guyana inked its first and only carbon credit deal so far with Hess Corporation, a US oil giant and one of the companies searching for and producing petroleum in the country’s nascent oil and gas sector. Hess is paying for about 30% of Guyana’s carbon credits.

The deal was brokered after the country got special carbon credits for its vast, intact forests issued to it last December.

By the end of 2030, Guyana should amass at least US$750 million from the deal inked with Hess and 15% of the sum, or US$112 million overall, will be disbursed directly to Indigenous communities. The 15% disbursement is stipulated by Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

Outside of the Hess deal, Guyana still has 70% of its carbon credits available for marketing. And if the prices for the credits are extrapolated, Jagdeo says Guyana could get about US$2.5 billion.

Because Indigenous communities are getting 15% of the payments, Jagdeo said they will get US$375M (or nearly GY$80 billion).

Recently, Jagdeo said Guyana is in no rush to sell 70% of credits remaining but those credits could be sold to bilateral partners and in the compliance markets.

The carbon credits sold to Hess were marketed in the voluntary market; this essentially means that Hess freely chose to purchase these credits from Guyana.

In a compliance market, countries or companies would be compelled to purchase these credits as part of efforts to offset their harmful emissions from fossil fuel use.