With the world’s focus changing from fossil fuels to renewable energy, one of Guyana’s first priorities should be a similar transition of its own energy sector as it establishes itself as a model green state, Arizona State Sustainable Development Professor Gary Dirks says.
“Your energy system at this point relies on hydrocarbons. You have the real opportunity going forward to look at that system and say, ‘How can I use renewables more effectively?’” Dirks, a former British Petroleum executive who held responsibility for the Asia-Pacific area, said on Friday.
At a Guyana Press Association forum at Moray House, supported by Conservation International, Dirks said that he has no doubt that Guyana can be an oil producer and a model state for green development but it would require a holistic development approach, which focuses a lot on management and diversification of the resources it currently has. “There is absolutely no reason why you can’t have a green growth agenda pursued aggressively and being an oil producing nation at the same time,” he said.
