Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter by Dr. Thomas Singh, Director of the University of Guyana GREEN Institute & Senior Lecturer UG in the Stabroek News of December 3rd 2022 “There is much debate on whether these forest credits really satisfy the criteria of `additionality’”.
Firstly he indicated that Mr. Hess is not in a position to pronounce on the quality of carbon credits. He then alluded to possible Net Zero Green washing by Hess Corporation. The short answer to this is one of hypocrisy. Dr. Singh, a senior lecturer at UG is well aware that the said oil companies operating in Guyana are the biggest funders of UG. The oil company of which Hess is part of the consortium is UG’s biggest donor. So why take the oil company and accuse them of Green washing. I hope the oil company thinks otherwise when giving UG resources in the future.
Maybe UG should start employing used car salesmen (used car salesman that he alluded to in his article) rather than discarded or overused car salesmen.
His attempts to discredit Guyana’s carbon credits as being high value and the ART Standard is grossly misleading and misguided and not based on any facts. Since when is Dr. Singh an expert on Forest Carbon? Maybe UG should utilize his skills more to generate revenue and be self-sustaining rather than seeking donation from oil companies.
The world has spoken, international and local groups have all hailed this masterful achievement by the GoG.
Secondly he alludes to a possible conflict of interest as the ART Secretariat is being hosted by WINROCK International which designs Guyana’s MRVS System. For Dr. Singh’s information the MRVS system was designed by Guyana and Guyanese. If he is aware of the robust system employed by ART he must be aware that ART was not the body that certifies Guyana’s carbon credits but an independent fully accredited assessor or independent auditor named Aster Global. As part of the verification Aster Global conducted in-country visits both in the fields and met with a wide cross-section of stakeholders including Amerindian NGOs and I can confirm I was part of the meetings with the auditor. They also visited many indigenous villages in various regions.
Yours faithfully,
Peter Persaud
President
TAAMOG
