Guyana President shuts BBC interviewer down on carbon emissions question: 'This is the hypocrisy...'. Viral video

Guyana President Irfaan Ali interjected BBC's Stephen Sackur during the interview and spoke about how Guyana had forests of the sizes, as large as both England and Scotland combined.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali was involved in a heated verbal altercation during an interview with BBC's Stephen Sackur after he was asked a question on carbon emissions, the video of which has gone viral.

President Ali was asked by Sackur about the projected carbon emissions that oil and gas extraction from Guyana's coast would generate in the coming years. "Over the next decade or two, it’s expected that there will be 150 billion dollars worth of oil and gas extracted off your coast. It’s an extraordinary figure. But in practical terms, that means two billion tons of carbon emissions will come from your seabed and be released into the atmosphere," Sackur said.

He interjected Sackur immediately and spoke about how Guyana had forests of sizes as large as both England and Scotland combined and how everyone in the country had put in the hard yards to protect the green cover in the country. "Let me stop you right there! Did you know that Guyana has a forest that is the size of England and Scotland combined, a forest that stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon, that we have kept alive," President Ali said.

“Let me stop you right there…”

Caribbean nation Guyana is booming after discovering oil. BBC’s Stephen Sackur puts it to President @presidentaligy; lobbyists say oil is bad for the climate.

Dude wasn’t having it. Mans was ready! pic.twitter.com/awy8OPIW2q

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— Ranga(@RangaMberi) March 29, 2024

Unamused by the follow-up question, President Ali questioned Sackur's right to lecture him about climate change and said that Guyana had the lowest deforestation rate, globally. "Does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change? I’m going to lecture you on climate change. We have kept this forest alive that you enjoy that the world enjoys, that you don’t pay us for, that you don’t value. Guess what? We have the lowest deforestation rate in the world! Guess what? Even with the greatest exploration of oil and gas we will still be net zero," he said.

"This is the hypocrisy that exists in the world. The world in the last 50 years has lost 65 percent of its biodiversity. We have kept ours," President Ali added.

Guyana has reserves of approximately 11 billion barrels, which means the country's per capita growth could surge due to the oil fields and even play a role in the nation becoming a developed economy.