Guyanese President Irfaan Ali brilliantly dismantled a BBC journalist’s claims about climate change in an interview that has since gone viral across social media.
The BBC’s Stephen Sackur, who hosts the interview programme HARDTalk, sat down with President Ali earlier this week. He tried to grill the Guyanese leader as the country prepares to extract from the world’s biggest offshore oil and gas reserves – which boasts reserves of about 11 billion barrels.
However, the tactic quickly backfired on the BBC reporter as President Ali turned the tables on him.
Mr Sackur begins by telling the president about the damage of oil and gas over the next two decades.
He said: “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 released into the atmosphere.”
He continued but President Ali quickly interrupted and shut him down, saying: “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.”
Mr Sackur tried to counter, asking whether these facts gave the Guyanese people the right “to release all this carbon”.
This prompted President Ali to hit back at the BBC reporter saying: “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.”
Mr Sackur again tries to intervene, calling the leader’s remarks “impressive” – but the Guyanese President insisted he “was not finished yet”.
He continued: “This is the hypocrisy that exists in the world. The world in the last 50 years has lost 65 percent of the biodiversity. We have kept ours.”
President Ali questioned whether the BBC reporter was “in the pockets of those who destroy the environment through the Industrial Revolution and are now lecturing us”.
Chris Rose, a user on X, shared the clip, adding: “This is magnificent to watch. The President of Guyana truly put the BBC in its place. When sanctimony and pomposity meets sense and modesty.”
The video has racked up hundreds of thousands of views with many commending the Guyanese leader for pointing out the “hypocrisy” against developing countries.
