… as “green economy” delivers billions to treasury
With Guyana having already sold its accredited forest carbon to nearly two dozen international airlines, the Government is anticipating this number to grow over the next 18 months as companies gear up to fulfil their commitments under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) mechanism.
Back in 2024, Guyana was issued 7.14 million carbon credits under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), an international programme that incentivizes forest conservation to fight climate change. The credits were issued through the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), using the TREES (The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard) framework – the only set of carbon credits certified to be used by airlines to meet their carbon emission targets for the 2024–2026 period under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s global emissions reduction programme.
Over the last 18 months, Guyana has sold these high-quality credits to at least 19 airlines through a partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
According to Senior Director for Climate at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Pradeepa Bholanath, this figure is expected to increase within the next two years, especially since Guyana received another tranche of over nine million CORSIA-eligible credits in February to put on the market.
“We have seen sales to over 19 airlines at prices that have gone beyond the levels that we have sold our carbon credits for under our existing agreements. So, [the credits are being sold] at higher prices and at an accelerated momentum”, Bholanath stated.
She made these remarks during an appearance on President Irfaan Ali’s “Tea on the Terrace” programme, during which she added that “…this kind of development I see just accelerating in the coming year and a half, as the airlines seek to meet their commitments over the next 18 months, as committed to under the UN umbrella, under which they have made their emissions reductions targets.”
According to Bholanath, who is also leading the implementation of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, Guyana has demonstrated its innovativeness and bold action by solidly cementing its place in the global private sector segment of the carbon credits market.
In fact, Guyana’s credits remain the only CORSIA-eligible credits available on the market for airlines, which are currently under CORSIA. Airlines must purchase Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) to offset any emissions exceeding 85 per cent of their 2019 baseline.
While from 2021 to 2026 this is a voluntary programme, it will become mandatory from 2027 onwards when all international flights will be subject to offsetting requirements, with the exception of small islands and least developed nations.
Climate revenues
In its 2024 IATA deal, Guyana sold its carbon credits for $21.70/tonne. But according to international reports, recent market modelling projects that CORSIA carbon credit prices will likely reach $25 to $36 per EEU by 2027.
Meanwhile, in addition to the CORSIA-eligible credits, Guyana was also the first country in the world to be issued some 33.4 million tonnes of ART TREES-certified carbon credits in December 2022 – the first jurisdictional-scale programme in the world.
Days later, the country entered into a historic US$750 million multi-year deal with United States-based energy major Hess Corporation for the sale of over 30 million carbon credits until 2030. Guyana has also sold its high-quality carbon credits to US technology giant Apple Inc.
According to Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, who was also on the President’s programme, these transactions significantly add to the national purse.
“The fact that we are mobilising revenue from climate services puts us in an almost unique position. And climate revenues are now a significant source of revenue to the Treasury. So, in addition to oil revenue, which we are obviously earning, [and] traditional tax revenue, which we’ve been earning, we now have a significant flow of climate revenue coming into the budget,” Dr Singh stated.
In fact, during his presentation of Budget 2026, the Finance Minister had projected that the carbon credit inflows would amount to $49.7 billion for this year.
These revenues go towards financing major climate resilience projects across Guyana, such as replicas of the Hope Canal Project in Regions Three, Five and Six, while a portion of the US$750 million Hess deal is being directly injected into Amerindian communities to drive economic development.
To date, more than $14.4 billion has been channelled into Amerindian villages since 2023, of which $4.8 billion was disbursed in 2025 to fund initiatives in the areas of tourism and agriculture, among others.
With a tropical forest that takes up 86 per cent of its landmass, Guyana has the second-highest percentage forest cover on earth and one of the lowest deforestation rates. The forest stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon and sequesters more than 153 million tonnes annually..
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