Norway says still awaiting transparent end to elections before further forest talks
Norway is continuing to await a fair and transparent conclusion to the March 2nd general elections before further talks are held on the continuation of a forest pact with this country, State Secretary Mathias Fischer of Oslo’s Ministry of Climate and Environment says.
“Concerning the future of the Guyana-Norway partnership, we are still in a situation where we await an outcome of the elections,” Fischer told the Stabroek News.
“Norway is following the situation in Guyana closely, and has joined the call for a fair and transparent conclusion of the elections,” he added.
Fischer said that Guyana’s Green Agenda (GGA) is “first and foremost” the responsibility of Guyana and the Guyanese government.
He pointed to bilateral relations between Georgetown and Oslo as he explained that his country has contributed to one part of the GGA through a bilateral forest partnership, “where our payments to Guyana have been made for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.”
However, it is unclear if there will be a renewal of that forest pact, given that Guyana is now an oil producing nation, coupled with the fact that it has flared over 9B cubic feet of natural gas since production began in December.
Fischer said that “until the outcome is clear” his country believes that it would not be appropriate to comment on future partnerships.
However, he said that his country supports the World Bank’s initiative which calls for zero routine flaring by 2030.
In Norway, he explained, flaring is, “in principle, illegal”. He said that “flaring is only permitted for security reasons. If so, the companies need a specific licence. Hence flaring is very rare in Norwegian waters.”
ExxonMobil’s large volume of flaring is being monitored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as the organization said that the company must play its part in decreasing emissions.
Based on the carbon price under Guyana’s forest protection pact with Norway, the nine billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent would be equal to the loss of 4,642 hectares of forest, which would be valued at US$24 million.
Under that agreement, which was signed in 2010, Guyana pledged to accelerate its efforts to limit forest-based Green House Gas emissions and protect its rainforest as an asset for the world. As such, Norway provided financial support at a level based on this country’s success in limiting emissions with a price set at US$5 per tonne of CO2 equivalent.
Theoretically
Utilising the calculation, nine billion standard cubic feet of methane gas flared would amount to 4.8 million tonnes CO2 equivalent. Multiplying that by the US$5 carbon price reflected in the Guyana-Norway agreement indicates that this country theoretically would have lost US$24 million under that pact had it been from deforestation.
To further illustrate, according to Guyana’s 2018 Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) report under the forest protection pact, this country lost 9,227 hectares of forest that year. The CO2 equivalent emissions from ExxonMobil’s nine billion cubic feet of gas flaring would be equivalent to 4,642 hectares of deforestation or more than half of this country’s annual total.
Back in 2017, when Norway had US$80M in payments to disburse under the agreement, the release of the funds had hit a snag as this country had presented the inclusion of natural gas as part of Guyana’s ‘Green State Plan’.
Special Envoy and Director of the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative, Per Fredrik Pharo has made clear that the release of the US$80 million, originally meant to be Guyana’s equity contribution for the huge Amaila hydropower project, was hinged on Georgetown showing a clear plan towards clean, renewable energy.
“This is not about any particular project, but about a realistic and politically anchored plan to deliver on the government’s own stated ambition,” Pharo had written in April this year, in an Op-Ed published in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle newspaper, where he assured that Norway is committed to supporting Guyana’s transition to clean and renewable energy sources.
It would take two years before Guyana demonstrated that it had met its commitments and in December of 2019, government announced that the money had been released.
However, Norway had said that the government could not access the funds due to its then caretaker status and disbursements could not be sanctioned until after the March 2nd general elections.
“I also believe it was made clear by our minister during the climate summit in NYC that payments will [not] be sanctioned out of the GRIF (Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund) until after the elections have been held and a government with a mandate from that election is in place,” Pharo had told this newspaper “In other words, the money will not be spent until the current situation is resolved,” he added.
Last month, Norway’s Ambassador to Guyana, Nils Martin Gunneng, joined the call for the national recount of votes to be used for the declaration of the result from the controversy-laden March 2nd general elections.