– Assures indigenous communities will receive their shares
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Leading technology company, Apple Inc., recently bought and retired 100,000 carbon credits from Guyana, according to vice president Dr Apple buys Guyana’s Carbon Credits Jagdeo. This grants the nation much publicity value and brings greater credibility to Guyana’s carbon credit on the global market.
How was Apple able to acquire carbon credits?
In 2022, Guyana was issued the first TREES credits. This marked a milestone as the first time a country was issued carbon credits specifically designed for the voluntary and compliance carbon markets for successfully preventing forest loss and degradation – a process known as jurisdictional REDD+.
Following completion of an independent validation and verification process and approval by the ART Board of Directors, ART issued 33.47 million TREES credits to Guyana for the five years from 2016 to 2020.
These serialised credits, listed on ART’s public registry, are available to buyers on the global carbon market, including for use by airlines for compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s global emission reduction programme, CORSIA, as well as for use toward voluntary corporate climate commitments. And with Apple now tapping into these carbon credits, Guyana’s vice president expressed satisfaction that major companies like Apple are starting to recognise the value of trees.
“It’s a small amount…. But…it’s really great that a big company like Apple… sees that these are valuable credits. It brings great credibility to our product,” he expressed at a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown, in response to a question fielded by the Department of Public Information (DPI).
Apple has become the second company to purchase Guyana’s high-quality carbon product. In 2022, the Government of Guyana agreed with oil giant Hess Corporation to purchase 37.5 million credits over ten years for at least US$740 million.
Within three years, this mechanism has facilitated some $14 billion in resources directly to Amerindian communities nationwide. In fact, the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 stipulates that 15 per cent of all carbon-related sales will be dedicated to Amerindian communities.
According to Dr Jagdeo, the $14 billion will fund some 4,000 projects, tailored to the specific needs of the Amerindian population.
“They are entitled to 15 percent, but if you look …it’s more like 20 per cent that they have received over the last three years. [And] next year [at] the NTC …they will get their money,” the vice president assured.
While 15 percent is dedicated to Amerindian development and sustainability, 85 per cent of these resources are invested in securing Guyana against climate change.
“Right across the coast, we are building better infrastructure to allow us to deal with climate change. And more managing water better…. We’re also opening up about 85,000 acres of new land that will go to the small farmers in the next term in office,” he said, emphasising that this is possible because of a People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) climate policy.
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