The Quest to Defuse Guyana’s Carbon Bomb

The fight against climate change was one of the most significant legal battles in the world in June of this year. The two people sitting in the ground floor office were waiting to connect to the Supreme Court via the internet. The internet is unreliable in the capital city and the fear was that it would be used to conk out.

The lawyers were odd to be around. Burch- Smith is tall and methodical. If you ask him if he knows the time, he will probably say yes. Janki is a woman with warm eyes and a sharp wit who quickly moved to condemn injustice from the war in Ukraine to the litter on the street. There is a framed Phantom of the Opera play bill above the desk. There is a life-size painting of a fierce yellow jaguar that is poised to step out of a blackened forest and into the picture frame in Janki's office. Exxon Mobil, one of the world's largest corporations with the legal muscle to match, has been attacked by two attorneys.

The first significant find in the country's history was made by Exxon in 2015. The scale of the discovery landed the country on the list of the world's top "carbon bombs". More than 1 million barrels of oil will be produced by Exxon. It would transform the country into one of the world's top 20 oil producers by the year 2030. During the world's transition to cleaner energy, we need two things at the same time, reduced emissions and a reliable source of energy. Exxon Mobil is involved in both. The greenhouse gas intensity of Exxon's Guyana operations is expected to be 30 percent lower than average. Climate experts think that by the year 2030, Georgetown will be underwater due to global warming. People living in the country's interior will be hit the hardest by the effects of worsening floods and droughts. The Guyanese government gave Exxon the go-ahead to operate in the country. Exxon was a coconspirator in the case.

Georgetown's lush beauty is made possible by its abundant sources of water, which can be found in the rivers and canals. Georgetown is vulnerable to climate change due to the abundance of water. There is a city that is rapidly industrializing. Newly traffic-c streets strain to make room for horse-drawn carts. There are many homes and buildings that look like they have been damaged during war or extreme weather.

The Exxon lawsuit is considered a David-versus-Goliath endeavor. When several US state attorneys general sued Exxon for misleading investors and the public about the risks of climate change, a judge joked, "Y'all have 300 lawyers on your side." There were more than 2 million pages of records submitted by Exxon. The two women had one legal assistant. Janki has stood in long lines to file pleadings. She has carted around enormous files filled with thousands of pages of material, which she reads on her own.

Exxon tried to throw out testimony from one of their clients because he was not a climate scientist. The judge gave the pair more time to present their argument after he appeared on the screen.

Halting the project would hurt Exxon the most, as it would be the company's single largest site of daily oil production. It could have implications for the industry around the world. Climate lawsuits against fossil fuel companies usually try to hold them accountable for the harms they have caused in the past, but this one in Georgetown wants the company and government to take responsibility for the damage they will cause in the future. Oil development is incompatible with human health and the environment, according to the case. It could set an example for other countries to follow.

The lawsuit against Exxon would be called a David- vs. Goliath endeavor.

It would be difficult for two attorneys in a Global South nation to topple a global energy giant. They are using powerful tools. Some of the most robust environmental protections in the world can be found in Georgetown. The rights of citizens in the present and the future are protected in the constitution. The president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law says that almost every aspect of the operation is in violation of the constitution. There are serious consequences in terms of the government's response.

Janki says the provisions are ground breaking. 30 years ago she helped write them. Janki has knowledge on the matter that goes back to when she worked for British Petroleum.

Janki used to sleep in a house that was close to the ocean to drown out the waves. She developed an affinity for the forest and the water as a child. A small brown dog appeared on the front porch when she was five years old. Janki named her first pet, Son of the Morning, after a book she was reading. She said that the story ended badly. Someone knocked him down and killed him after he got out of the house. Janki was angry and crushed. She says that it taught her that life is tenuous and that she needs to fight for the little people. She cared for many stray animals, including dogs, donkeys, cats, horses, wild birds, and a baby giant otter.

When Janki was a child, the country was in a period of political instability and her family left. Janki moved to London after living in several countries. She graduated from Oxford and University College London with a law degree. Janki was one of the first non-white trainees at one of the UK's premier corporate law firms. In 1989 she became an in-house lawyer at the world headquarters. Janki doesn't speak negatively about her experience working there, but her condemnation of the industry has come to dominate both her life and work

The shine of London wore off quickly. Janki was cut off from nature on the 30th floor of the building. It seemed like her life was all right. She says that it's a form of suicide. She left the oil industry after four years. Janki returned to Georgetown in 1994. She says that her heart told her what she should be doing.

The concept of natural capital was introduced to Guyanese law by Janki.

It is said that the name of the country is derived from an Indigenous word. The largest of the country's rivers, the Essequibo, begins at the Acarai Mountains near the Brazilian border and goes north through forest and savanna for 630 miles. As the Essequibo makes its way to the coast, it is joined by several rivers, all carrying a rich bounty of silt and water. The ocean of Guyana has some of the highest levels of the plant life-giving substance. More than 900 species of fish are found in the waters, which are essential to both local and Guyanese economies. There are dolphins, manta rays, sperm whales, and six types of turtles.

The savanna that the Wapishana and Macushi call home lies in the interior between forests, mountains, and the Amazon. They are part of a group of nine Amerindians who have been living in and around the area for thousands of years. The lifestyles of most people are similar to those of their ancestors.

For hundreds of years, a rotating list of foreign powers returned the products and profits from Guyana. The Dutch traded parts of modern-day New York and New Jersey to the British in 1667 in order to get their claim onGuyana. Many Indigenous peoples were pushed into the interior by the Dutch to make it easier to get to the sea. Britain tookGuyana by force. One of the empire's most lucrative colonies was powered by slavery and indentured servitude. The abolition of slavery across the entire British Empire is credited with being contributed to by an 1823 rebellion led by enslaved people in Georgetown. Bauxite and gold were mined by American corporations in the 20th century. They hunted for oil in the 1950s, but it was largely unsuccessful.

The first democratic election in decades took place in 1992. The new government led by the People's Progressive Party was eager to protect the country's natural resources after centuries of colonial exploitation. Janki had just been admitted to the bar. She had no political affiliations. She said that she was a "nobody." Janki knew she had to be there when the nation's first ever environmental laws were going to be drafted. A partner at the law firm where she worked helped Janki get a press pass because he owned a national newspaper.

The conference took place in a cylinder of blue glass and white steel above Georgetown. No press accounts of the event can be found, and many of the participants have since died, but Janki remembers that there were about 100 people at the event, most of them men. The environmental protection act caught her attention. She was horrified when she saw what they were writing. She thought the legislation was too weak.

Lakeram was standing alone outside of the conference room when Janki spied him. She remembers that Janki was a lot shier then, but she made quite a nuisance of herself. She was invited to send a letter to him. The Inter-American Development Bank hired Janki to draft a new law after reading her ideas.

Janki put in a raft of new provisions after adapting what she thought were the most robust environmental laws from around the world. She included the "polluter pays" and "precautionary" principles, which hold companies liable for the costs of cleaning up pollution and the government responsible for implementing measures to prevent environmental harm. Janki defined the environment as including the atmosphere and climate. She says that in 1995 people were relatively unconcerned about greenhouse gas pollution. She gave the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to require a detailed environmental impact assessment for all proposed projects. The EPA would have the power to reject projects and put conditions on permits if the assessments were found to be lacking. She included provisions for public access to information, participation, oversight, and compensation for harm, as well as some other "visionary stuff in the act that nobody noticed."

Natural capital was introduced into Guyanese law. Every year the EPA is required to take a full accounting of the nation's ecology and make it public. The baseline created by this will measure both the value and harm of the ecosystems. Gross domestic product, or how much a country produces, consumes, and exports, is the most important measure of a nation's economic health. Regardless of the human or environmental costs a rising GDP is positive. The GDP increases when a forest is clear-cut because of the labor and machinery used to cut it. Natural capital considers the value of the trees to the climate and the people who call the forest home. The forest's destruction is a cost and a benefit. Janki's law doesn't require this entire calculation, but simply introducing the concept was a significant step, which has since been embraced by several other countries.

In 1995 cyanide-filled mining waste spilled into the river and killed fish and other animals. The Environmental Protection Act was signed into law in 1996 because of a lack of meaningful environmental regulation.

The government solicited submissions for a new constitution after two years. The preamble states that the well-being of the nation depends upon preserving clean air, fertile soils, and water.

Provisions that Janki wanted included in the text of the constitution were the most important. They gave every Guyanese citizen the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being and would hold the state responsible for protecting the environment. The courts were required to pay due regard to international law. There are human rights obligations to clean air and water. The environmental protections found in the US are not as strong as those found in the constitution. Janki doesn't want to sound like she's showing off, but it's all there.

An Arecuna tribal leader came to Janki's law office a few years later to seek help against the mining industry. Janki wanted to build and secure the rights of these communities. The 2006 Amerindian Act provided for collective rights to land, natural resources, and self- determination. She made the case that failing to fulfill human-rights obligations to life, health, water, food, non-discrimination, and self-determination, including the rights of local communities to consent to policies and programs that directly affect them, can be atrigger for environmental. The first regional environmental treaty of Latin America and the Caribbean (ratified by 14 nations but open to all 33), she contributed to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generation to live in a healthy environment.

When the time came, Janki expected the strong legal foundation she had helped build to be used by the government and people. When it came to oil, she was wrong.

In March of 2015, Exxon Mobil'sdeepwater champion rig was drilling for oil in the Atlantic Ocean 120 miles off the coast of Georgetown. The dangers of ultra-deepwater drilling are well known. The worst offshore oil spill in history was set off by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig five years ago. The same company that ran the rig in the Gulf owned the one in Guyana.

Exxon struck oil two months after beginning exploration. The find came as a huge surprise. The largest oil find in the world that year was made by Exxon Mobil. The Guyanese government signed a contract with Exxon and gave the company a number of permits, which were kept from the public. Four years later, when production began, it was a fraction of the time it usually takes. The discovery of oil would transform the country's economic development and ensure a good life for all, according to the President.

The People's Progressive Party accused Granger of agreeing to a deal with Exxon in exchange for peanuts. The government is getting a below-average return on its Exxon projects, according to analysts. All of Exxon's expenses, including development and operating expenses, will be absorbed by the government and public. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Exxon gets 85.5 percent of the value of the oil compared to Georgetown's 14.5 percent.

Janki hoped that the environmental protections she instituted would be used. She wasn't right about oil.

Exxon says that the contract terms are competitive and that they provide a structure and terms that are equitable to both the government and investing companies.

Janki wanted to scuttling the entire Exxon operation in the country. No one was willing to challenge what the oil sector was doing. She had to go to court.

According to the Environmental Protection Act, the government acted illegally when it granted production licenses to the two companies that Exxon is partnering with. Janki was not deterred by the judge's ruling that the license granted to Exxon was enough. She began giving talks and lectures, arguing that there were grounds to challenge Exxon's operations, and she soon found a kindred spirit in Troy Thomas, who was then president of the transparency institute. He became one of her most important partners.

Janki worried that the corrupting force of oil money would threaten the country's meager political gains of the past few years. The countries that rely on exporting oil are some of the most troubled in the world. The consequences of becoming oil-rich have tended to be more destructive than positive according to Terry Lynn Karl. Growing efforts to shift away from fossil fuels is something Thomas was aware of. He says that they know that the end of oil is near.

The fossil fuel industry and its products accounted for more than 90 percent of all industrial greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. More than half of global industrial greenhouse emissions can be traced to just 25 companies. Exxon Mobil is in the top five.

Wakenaam is a small island with a distinctly Caribbean feel that is just a short boat ride from Georgetown. Like most of the island's inhabitants, his father was a small farmer. The Dutch built a sea wall to keep the water out of Wakenaam. The crumbling ledge seems too generous a word. The sea has risen and the storms have gotten worse, but it worked for a time. One day, the ocean has to decide if it will be disruptive. It is for the island of Wakenaam. The argument is not a theoretical one. Right now, it is. He didn't understand why the government welcomed a project that contributed to the sea-level rise that threatened his family's survival. He doesn't think we can agree to kill ourselves.

Thomas is a professor of natural sciences at the University of Georgetown and he often wears a dress shirt and blazer. Thomas gets no more than a few hours of sleep each night as a father of two young children, balancing family, work, and political activism that is rare in this small nation. He understands how hard it is to speak out against the government in Georgetown. One of the nation's agricultural ministers and an anti-colonial scholar were killed in the same year. Political and economic revenge can cause fear and limit action.

The effort to make Exxon's contract with the government public brought Thomas into conversation with Janki. Thomas was interested in Janki's novel, but he felt he had reached the limits of traditional advocacy to stop Exxon. He decided to work together with her.

Janki filed a new lawsuit against the government. The Environmental Protection Act requires the government to grant only five-year leases for oil drilling. Exxon would need to apply for new permits after the terms were reduced by the EPA. The victory didn't address the root of Thomas' concerns about climate change.

As a result of their success, Thomas and Janki began to lay the groundwork for a bigger case against Exxon.

Troy Thomas doesn't think that we can agree to kill ourselves.

Janki has two clients in the case against Exxon. The boy band member with good looks is named Wapishana and he grew up in the southwest region of the country. He split his time between the village of Katoonerib and the cattle ranch where his family worked. The ranch uses solar panels for a long time. He is effusive in his praise of the number of animals. You can't list all of them.

His family has a small cattle ranch and is starting a business. DeFreitas is worried that the effects of climate change will affect not only his family's businesses, but the future of his younger brother as well.

There has been a lot of heavy rain in Georgetown. DeFreitas says that people live on the land and know where the water usually comes. The rainy season is longer and the dry season is hotter. The weather is getting worse all the time. The wells and ponds are running dry, leaving families without drinking water or fish to eat, as the river swells and dries out beyond the norm.

There is a small plot of land near the school. There were huts made of brown earth and thatched roofs. A farmer pulled back the skin of a rotting ear of corn after removing it from the stalks. The crop is not able to produce fruit. It wasn't only the corn that was ruined, but the food grown on the farm as well.

DeFreitas was eager to participate in Janki's third case. Pointing to the benefits of solar power and the minimal use of fossil fuels in his community, he knows that other, less harmful ways of producing energy can be found. He considers Exxon's operations crazy and wrong because of the climate crisis. He doesn't see the point

The landmark suit against the government and Exxon was filed by Janki, along with other people. The lawyers say that the release of greenhouse gases has polluted the atmosphere and oceans. Guyanese citizens have a constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. This is the first case in which this provision has been argued in court.

According to Thomas' affidavit, the health and well-being of the Guyanese people is already being harmed by the greenhouse gas emissions. The government and Exxon are responsible for the harm caused by burning fossil fuels because they are the intended and foreseeable consequence of producing that oil and gas. According to Exxon's own 1982 research, "mitigation of the 'greenhouse effect' would require major reductions in fossil fuel combustion." Exxon argues that Thomas' statements reflect opinions rather than facts.

They won't concede anything about climate change unless they have a gun to their head.

Janki's lawsuits are creating innovative precedents for challenging the major contributors to climate change, according to scholars. Joana Setzer, an assistant professor at the London School of Economics, credits the case for the advancement of human-rights-based climate litigation. The case could lead to similar lawsuits in other countries. This is a real human rights case.

In response to questions about the suit, Exxon said it had complied with all applicable laws.

Exxon joined the government as a coconspirator in September of 2021. According to the multinational, the environmental impact assessments needed for drilling were approved by the government. The constitutional provision on which Janki and Burch- Smith have built their case was misrepresented by Exxon. It goes on to say that the state must do this while promoting economic and social development.

The government responded to the same argument. The same constitutional provision was noted by Exxon, and it affirmed that it approved Exxon's assessment. The government argues that preventing Guyana from developing its oil resources would bring unjust economic and social costs. Bharrat Jagdeo was the country's president and now is its vice president. He is one of the leaders of a group of government officials who are making the same argument. Several government officials declined to be interviewed.

Exxon and the government had an economic prosperity argument. A $180 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank was blocked by the Biden administration because they wanted to end international financing of carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy.

The oil project is not off to a good start. One of the highest poverty rates in Latin America and the Caribbean can be found in Guyana. It's tempting to get a windfall from oil. Money from oil has flowed into the country, but it's hard to measure its impact. According to the World Bank, GDP per capita will reach $9,300 in 2021, up from $6,600 in 2019. GDP ignores real environmental costs, and the per capita figures simply divide a national value by the population, with no consideration for the distribution of the gains.

There are more than 4,000 Guyanese workers who support Exxon Mobil's activities in the country. MacDonald said it takes some time to develop the workforce to handle the operations in a highly volatile work environment. Exxon acknowledged in a statement on its website that the oil and gas industry is no longer reliant on workers.

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Exxon and its partners took in six times more revenue from their oil operations in Guyana than the government did. The group estimates that by the year 2027, Guyana will owe Exxon and its partners more than $34 billion due to the skewed contact. Janki doesn't think there will be a lot of wealth. The Guyanese people will probably be saddled with an enormous bill.

If the court agrees with Janki that this oil operation is incompatible with the right to a healthy environment, the government has to decide whether to stop the activity or make it not violate the constitution. It may be difficult for the government to prove that oil production won't cause global warming. Exxon's existing licenses may be revoked by the government. If it is not possible for the government to issue permits without violating the law, oil drilling in the country will be ended.

According to Muffett of the Center for International Environmental Law, if the court agrees that the development is in violation of the Guyanese constitution, it will have a huge impact on future oil development in the country. It would be another signal that the company's core business model is incompatible with confronting the climate crisis if they lost access to Guyana. It is likely that investors will listen to the huge prominence of the country in Exxon's portfolio.

The case was discussed at a table at the Marriott Hotel. The American hotel chain, where rooms cost upwards of $300 a night, has replaced the Pegasus as the "place to be" in Georgetown. Burch- Smith spoke quietly, not to be heard by the people at nearby tables and to be loud enough to be heard in the pool. There were many of them with Texas accents. He thought that more Americans would come to the country as Exxon continued to grow.

There is only one way to slow climate change, and that is to stop burning oil. "Exxon can't challenge that."

Janki says that this isn't a story of powerlessness.

Janki's efforts are having an impact. A group of 25 men and women gathered outside of Exxon's base in Georgetown on the eve of a court hearing to protest the company's operations. The protesters held white placards with handwritten messages that said "Slavery was abolished centuries ago." Don't rape our country. Exxon makes more money than God andGuyana do.

The right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment was recognized by the UN General Assembly as a fundamental human right. It has made it possible for people in any UN member nation to challenge fossil fuel operations in court if they think they are incompatible with the new rights.

A 42 gallon oil spill from a production rig was reported by Exxon in September. The company said it was isolated the next day. Fears of a spill large enough to have a catastrophic effect on the marine environment loom large here. "If something should go wrong out there, it definitely would affect not just livelihoods but the entire economy."

The judge announced during the hearing that he was retiring from the court. There were differences in certain technical aspects that caused her to withdraw as her co-counsel. There isn't a withdrawal for Janki. She has a new legal partner who will help her argue the case. When a new judge is assigned, the case will proceed. She has filed at least three other cases against Exxon if it fails to stop them. Janki says that this isn't a story of powerlessness. The case is the biggest of its kind.

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