How Will G.O.B. Benefit from Sale of Carbon Credits?
But the informal sale of carbon credits is ongoing, with G.O.B. receiving no royalties or taxes. Since the return from COP26, a national framework is being worked on to regularize this process. C.E.O. Williams confirmed today that the Rio Bravo Conservation Trust by Programme for Belize has been one of the longest standing entities to be selling carbon credits and there are others that have gotten approvals. Doctor Williams breaks down how the country will benefit from the sale of carbon credits when the framework is established.
Dr. Kenrick Williams
Dr. Kenrick Williams, C.E.O., Ministry of Climate Change
“There is the voluntary carbon standards system and then there is regulated market in general. Rio Bravo has been doing that. The recent approval from the government with the Maya Forest Corridor does allow them that opportunity to do that. They have been having discussions; have not formally engaged in sales as far as we know. Essentially, the market that we are trying to set up and regulate is still being designed. The rules of that market are still being designed and so we’ve been trying to develop a legislative framework that responds to that except that all of that is not very clear and that’s why that process, legislatively, nationally is a bit slow in responding. The benefits that would naturally or theoretically accrue to a government would be maybe in the form of taxes, maybe in the form of application fees and processes, standard with any resource use. So similar to how you have forest license and application process, there may be royalty fees. That mechanism is being developed. As it relates to Rio Bravo, there is no mechanism, no royalty or no mechanism to the government that exists. Rio Bravo was really a testing, a pilot project, a proof of concept if you will, within the voluntary scheme. Now, with the negotiations and discussions of the Paris Agreement and the outcomes of the various COPs, particularly COP26 which was a landmark COP as it relates to the Paris Rule Book which outlines how this market will work, now we are able to now devise a little bit more clearly the market mechanism and how this market will function.”
