Hess Corporation and the Government of Guyana announced an agreement for Hess to purchase high quality carbon credits for a minimum of $750 million between 2022 and 2032 directly from the Government of Guyana.
Carbon credits are mechanisms used to reduce CO2 emissions. Carbon credits are generated by the avoidance of CO2 emissions. Guyana’s extensive natural rainforests provide an avenue to remove substantial quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere.
This agreement will serve to support Guyana’s efforts to protect the country’s vast forests and provide capital to improve the lives of Guyana’s citizens through investments made by the Government as part of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.
If you would like to learn more about Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy click here:
https://lcds.gov.gy/
Guyana’s President, His Excellency Dr. Irfaan Ali stated, “In 2009, Guyana produced the first low carbon development strategy from a developing country. As one of only nine national jurisdictions in the Amazon Basin, we said long ago that national or jurisdiction-scale action on forests, coupled with access to global private finance, could create solutions that benefit the peoples of forest-rich countries while also achieving global climate goals.”
President Ali was joined by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and John Hess, CEO of Hess Corporation for a signing ceremony to commemorate this historic agreement.
The multi-year agreement is for 37.5 million REDD+ jurisdictional carbon credits (current and future issuances). These credits will be on the ART (Architecture for REDD+ Transactions) registry and will be independently verified to represent permanent and additional emissions reductions under ART’s REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard 2.0 (TREES).
Avoiding global deforestation is foundational to the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C and was one of the major commitments made at the COP26 climate summit, where more than 130 countries, including Guyana, pledged to end deforestation by 2030.
Guyana’s more than 18 million hectares of forests are estimated to store approximately 20 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Through Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, the country has a roadmap for preserving its forests, while growing its economy and creating a development pathway that is diverse and includes opportunities for all Guyanese citizens.
The purchase of these carbon credits is an important part of Hess’ commitment to support global efforts to address climate change and for the company to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The agreement adds to the company’s ongoing and successful emissions reduction efforts, which are described in Hess’ annual Sustainability Reports.
If you would like to learn more about Hess’ sustainability reports, you can click here:
https://www.hess.com/sustainability/sustainability-reports