by Danielle Swaindanielle@newsroom.gyGuyana strengthened its high-level presence at COP30 on Monday as Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat addressed world leaders at the opening of the High-Level Segment and helped usher what may be, one of the summit’s most consequential developments – the launch of the Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition with the Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP).The coalition is a global effort to expand high-integrity forest carbon finance at a scale not previously seen in climate diplomacy.A partnership among governments, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society, and major private-sector actors, the coalition aims to mobilise between US$3 billion and US$6 billion annually by 2030 to reward jurisdictions (countries and large subnational jurisdictions) that reduce deforestation and strengthen sustainable development.Guyana, already one of the world’s most advanced jurisdictional REDD+ countries, is one of its founding signatories.The announcement came hours before Minister Bharrat delivered Guyana’s national statement, a sweeping address that framed forests, energy transition, and equitable climate finance as the fuel needed to translate global ambition into action.He spoke against a backdrop of intensifying urgency at COP30, where UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell warned that ministers must demonstrate “climate cooperation standing firm in a fractured world” amid deepening climate impacts and geopolitical divides.A central role in a pivotal COPBharrat opened his speech by crediting Brazil for bringing the world “to a moment where we are finally focusing not just on describing the climate crisis, but on delivering practical solutions.”In a summit pushing implementation over rhetoric, Guyana’s actions continue to echo the firm tone set by President Dr Irfaan Ali at the pre-COP30 World Leaders Climate Summit. That is, that Guyana continues to stand as a model of forest stewardship and a co-creator of new global systems intended to finance that stewardship.“What is missing is finance and systems to turn ambition into action,” Bharrat said, noting that forests alone can deliver one-third of the climate mitigation required by 2030.The Natural Resource Minister highlighted Guyana’s own track record of maintaining one of the world’s lowest deforestation rates in addition to strengthening Indigenous land rights, advancing high-integrity carbon markets, and becoming the first country to issue ART-TREES jurisdictional credits under a national system that has already generated more than half a billion U.S. dollars in results-based payments.Scaling J-REDD+ adds to the growing menu of forest carbon financeThe launch of the Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition represents the most significant expansion of jurisdictional forest finance since the Paris Agreement. The coalition follows months of FCLP-led work to build consensus among forest countries, Indigenous leaders, donors and carbon market actors.The FCLP, a platform of 36 governments that Guyana co-chairs with the UK , incubated the Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition and its shared principles.The coalition’s signatories include Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Grupo Perú de Pueblos Indígenas, along with the National Toshaos Council of Guyana, making Guyana the only country represented at both the national and Indigenous leadership level.The Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition COP30 launch statement (FCLP Website)Others welcoming the coalition include Pakistan, WWF, the Tropical Forest Alliance, EDF, IPAM Amazonia and the World Bank.The coalition’s emergence comes amid a rising wave of private-sector support for jurisdictional approaches. This week, multinational corporations like Bayer, Nestlé, Dow, Mercuria and Brazilian commercial giants like Banco do Brasil and Bradesco, issued a joint declaration backing J-REDD+ as the most credible pathway to halting deforestation at scale. “Time has passed for private project-by-project approaches,” one representative told Quantum Commodity Intelligence. “It’s the only possible alternative right now to scale up markets with integrity credits.Major FCLP achievement for a Co-Chairing NationFor Guyana, the coalition’s launch is the culmination of years of diplomacy through the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP).Bharrat noted that the FCLP initiative sits at the heart of the Forest Finance Roadmap, a six-part blueprint designed to make forests “worth more alive than dead.”Guyana was among 60 countries endorsing the TFFF, described by Brazil as a long-sought mechanism to reward forest nations with predictable, performance-based finance. But Bharrat in his address cautioned that endorsements must now become real money. “A facility designed to reward forest countries only works if the partners who helped bring it into being ensure it is fully funded and operational at scale.”Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat sits alongside Norway’s Sofie Rosten Løvdahl, Political Adviser to the Minister of Climate and Environment, during a panel discussion at COP30 in Belém. The two countries joined other partners in advancing high-integrity forest finance and the launch of the Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition. (Photo: Carlos Tavares/COP30)Energy transition and adaptationIn language echoing recent UN warnings, Bharrat argued that the global energy transition must be grounded in “carbon science and the principles of a just transition,” not political slogans. He called for global carbon pricing, the phase-out of fossil-fuel subsidies, and recognition of the role of lower-carbon producers in meeting remaining energy demand.“For millions, adaptation is a daily question of safety and survival,” yet finance remains “too little, too slow, and too difficult to access,” he said.Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which combines renewable energy expansion, adaptation infrastructure, sustainable cities, biodiversity investment, and carbon revenues, was highlighted as proof that integrated national planning is possible even for small states.Belem, a COP of urgency and opportunityThe final week of COP30 has opened with a volatile mix of ambition and pressure. Negotiators face tight timelines, Indigenous and civil society groups have taken to the streets demanding climate justice, and Brazil’s presidency has urged nations to “stop debating goals and start fulfilling them.”Yet, for forest nations like Guyana, this COP has also delivered a rare sign of momentum.By the close of his address, Bharrat offered a challenge to the world’s largest economies: “Let us leave Belém not only believing that a better future was possible, but demonstrating that we chose to build it – together.”With the Scaling J-REDD+ Coalition now active, COP30 may be remembered as the moment when forest nations redefined how global climate cooperation must work, driven by those with the most at stake.The post Guyana continues to push for more funds for forest conservation at COP30 appeared first on News Room Guyana.