According to a report from the Government Information News Agency (GINA), Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, told a gathering at an oil and gas seminar on Monday that the discovery of oil and natural gas will not slow Guyana’s move towards the use of 100 percent renewable energy by 2025.
Addressing the Mayor and City Councillors as he gave a power-point presentation, the Minister reiterated that Guyana stands out in its quest to become a, “Green State, as it has a President who talks the talk, and walks the walk.”
The Minister reminded the gathering that when Guyana signed on to the Paris Climate Change Agreement of 2016, President David Granger was, “the first Head of State to line up to sign that document that; knowing that we had oil.” He added that the commitment to “Going Green” has been reaffirmed several times by the president and that the Government is working assiduously to have a balance.
Government remains committed to achieving the goal of utilising 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2025. This can be attained with assistance of other friendly nations, Minister Trotman explained.
The additional discovery of natural gas, he noted, is welcomed but emphasised, that in no way is ‘our commitment diminished’.
The fact that President Granger continues to articulate this vision, Minister Trotman pointed out, is also evident in the strong stand he took against the illegal mining activities within the protected Kaieteur National Park. Despite the claims by some of victimisation and abuse, he noted that the country could not afford to have the world viewing the scenes of the Kaieteur Falls area of “people digging it up at the same time.”
The Minister of Natural Resources reiterated that the Head of State was not just “mouthing off, but he is putting strong action behind his words. All of the Ministers and departments of government have to fall in line, and have fallen in line. In building houses, in doing roads, developing resources, in my ministry, and in every other ministry, we discuss the environment and how we could utilise the resources in a renewable way…there has been no diminishing, and we are on track to maintain our stated commitments.”
