Hess Corporation, which holds a 30% interest in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana through its subsidiary Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd., has agreed to purchase a minimum of $750m of high-quality carbon credits from the Government of Guyana between 2022 and 2032. This agreement is intended to support Guyana’s efforts to protect the country’s 18m hectares of forest and provide capital to improve the lives of Guyana’s citizens through investments made by the government as part of its Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030.
The multi-year agreement will be managed through REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), a framework created by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties to guide activities in the forest sector. Hess will buy 37.5m REDD+ jurisdictional carbon credits, which will be recorded on the ART (Architecture for REDD+ Transactions) registry and independently verified.
The purchase of these carbon credits is 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.
Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali said the agreement “represents a massive step forward in showing the world that developing countries can lead the way to global solutions.”
Some of the $750m will be set aside for developments in Indigenous communities said Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The government has said it aims to develop similar partnerships with other oil and gas companies and Alistair Routledge, president of ExxonMobil Guyana, said last week that his company will consider buying carbon credits. “ExxonMobil is looking at a lot of ways to manage climate change and this is always going to be one of the considerations,” he said.
