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Audreyanna Thomas v Environmental Protection Agency (Guyana) - decision

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The plaintiff challenged the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") for granting a permit to Global Environmental Services (Guyana) Inc ("GES") without an environmental impact assessment ("EIA").

The permit, currently held by Professional Wastes Solutions Inc. ("PWS"), was first granted to GES on July 27, 2021. The permit allowed GES to operate a waste management facility for exploration and production of oil and gas waste. In granting the permit, the EPA concluded, and the Environmental Assessment Board ("EAB") approved in an appeal process, that EIA was not required for this facility. The permit allowed GES to operate the facility from August 2021 to July 2026. In July 2023, GES transferred the permit to PWS. In doing so, GES applied to the EPA to transfer its permit to PWS, not as an operation permit, but as an environmental permit ("EP").

Justice Pierre of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Guyana, on October 28, 2025, held that the original permit was invalid and that the EPA acted with procedural impropriety in granting the original permit, based on the lack of an EIA. The Court declared that "the operation of a waste management facility for exploration and production oil and gas wastes is a project that falls under the Environmental Protection Act section 11(1) and Fourth Schedule" and that "section 11 of the Environmental Protection Act imposes a mandatory requirement to conduct an EIA for Fourth Schedule projects." The Court also quashed the transfer of the permit, from GES to PWS, in the form of an EP, as invalid. 

Audreyanna Thomas v Environmental Protection Agency (Guyana)

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Electrical energy generated from mechanical devices driven by flowing fresh water.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

Audreyanna Thomas v Environmental Protection Agency (Guyana) - decision

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