‘Guyana should be leading producer of energy’ – President Ali at Climate Week event

President Dr. Irfaan Ali emphasised that Guyana should be the leading producer of energy around the world even in the post-2050 era when countries are expected to stop embracing huge amounts of harmful fossil fuels.

President Ali spoke during an interview part of the New York Times Climate Forward event in New York. The President is there participating in the United Nations General Assembly.

And as he spoke about Guyana’s plans to continue protecting the vast rainforests that store 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon while developing the nascent oil and has sector, the President posited that the South American nation must be the world’s leading energy producer.

The best of both worlds? Guyana wants to be a low-carbon oil producer

“If it is that the climate equation is the most important equation in determining who will produce the 25% then guess what, the leading country will be Guyana because we will be producing the 25% globally with the least damage to the environment,” Dr. Ali said.

He contends that even by 2050, when countries are expected to embrace the net zero goal, the world will still require some amount of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas.

Net zero, essentially, means cutting greenhouse emissions out completely, or as close to zero, as possible. When fossil fuels are used up, those emissions are released.

Even if 25% of the world’s energy needs will require a reliance on oil and gas, the Guyanese Head of State maintained that Guyana and its oil sector should be the world’s energy supplier.

Outside of this argument, the President reiterated the government’s focus on forest preservation and guaranteeing that the country’s Indigenous people benefit directly from the money earned from those preservation efforts.

Guyana’s forest-saving plans are detailed in its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).