-Jagdeo
President Bharrat Jagdeo says Guyana will not have to abandon its plans for developing oil and gas because of the Low Carbon Deve-lopment Strategy (LCDS).
Questions have been raised about whether Guyana would abandon any oil and gas development given the revenue which can be generated with the low carbon route but in response, President Jagdeo said, “The answer is no. Right now there is no requirement by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) that countries shut down their oil and gas facilities.”
Jagdeo last Wednesday spoke on the likely decisions to be made were Guyana to discover oil and aim to become a thriving oil producing country and at the same time advance its policy on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
He was speaking at a stakeholder dialogue at the Georgetown Club on the Low Carbon Development Strategy.
The event was a three-day session organized by Conservation Inter-national (CI) and the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development.
According to GINA, the oil and gas industry is poised with significant external market potential but with the burden being felt at the consumer end rather than on production, coupled with the advocacy for renewables, Jagdeo expressed the view that the long-term prospects for oil and gas appear dismal.
He noted, however, that Guyana unlike what other countries are required to do, will not be going the route of measuring caps annually, but is offering a “lower than business as usual trajectory” in carbon emission growth in Guyana.
Cap and trade, the common name for emission trading, is an approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emission of pollution.
It is a system whereby government or an international body sets a limit or cap on the amount of pollutants that can be emitted and the companies and other groups responsible are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances which represent the right to emit a specific amount.
Guyana’s LCDS, GINA stated, is one which seeks to accomplish several developmental objectives, including promoting an economy where national development and the fight against climate change go hand in hand. Jagdeo noted that Guyana’s model is quite different from what other countries consider to be a LCDS.
He referred to a country like Tuvalu, categorized as the fourth smallest country in the world, which considers LCDS to involve transforming all energy sources from fossil fuel to generated wind power.
“Please don’t run away with this idea that there is one definition for the LCDS… if we don’t understand that then we will constantly have this concept that if a factory were to appear tomorrow whether we would shut down the factory,” Jagdeo urged.
Meanwhile, CGX Energy Incorporated, the Canadian-based oil and gas exploration company, recently announced its readiness to commence drilling for oil as early as next year.
