Brazilian Minister Urges Boldness to Develop Fossil Energy Phaseout Plan at COP30

The environment minister, the minister, has urged all nations to show the courage needed to confront the imperative of a global transition away from fossil fuels, describing the development of a roadmap as an “ethical” response to the global warming emergency.

She stressed, though, that involvement in this process would be optional and “independently decided” for willing governments.

This issue remains one of the most debated matters at the UN climate summit in Brazil, with nations divided over if and how such a roadmap can be addressed. As the host, Brazil has maintained a carefully neutral stance on which items can be included on the official agenda.

Silva voiced support for the potential of a roadmap, without directly committing the country to it. She remarked: “When we have a situation that is quite grim, it is good that we have a map. But the guide does not compel us to travel, or to climb.”

Speaking further, the minister noted: “The map is an response to our scientific knowledge [of the climate crisis]. It is an ethical answer.”

Scores of countries gathered in Belém for the global climate conference, which is entering its second week, are aiming to establish how a worldwide transition of oil, gas, and coal could be implemented. These nations aim to build on a historic resolution reached two years ago at a previous UN summit to “transition away from fossil fuels.”

The commitment lacked a timetable or details on the way it could be achieved, and even though it was passed by all, several nations have since attempted to back away from the promise. Attempts last year to elaborate on its real-world implications were stymied by resistance from oil-dependent nations at another UN summit.

As a result, there was no reference of the shift away from fossil fuels in the outcome of COP29.

Because of this, Brazil has been cautious of calls by some countries to place the transition on the agenda for the current summit. But the minister has strived in private to ensure the pledge could be discussed at the conference outside the official program.

The minister convinced the nation's leader, and he made mention three times to the need to “shift from reliance on traditional energy” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded COP30, and at the start of the summit.

“The issue is something that we understand at some point had to be raised, because it is the sole way to face the problem from the root,” Marina Silva explained. “We recognise that it is challenging, and we must not sell false hopes. Bringing up the subject is courageous, and I hope [to see] this bravery from all, from producing nations and using countries.”

The nation had not started the push for a transition, the minister said, because that had been done at COP28. Rather, it was enabling the discussions to take place in line with what some nations wished. “We understand these subjects are delicate. We will give the opportunity to discuss it,” she said.

There is not enough time at the summit to draw up a roadmap, a process the minister said could take a number of years because numerous countries confronted complex challenges around dependence on carbon-based energy, or aimed to use the revenue from exporting oil and gas to fund their economic growth.

“Brazil brings up the topic, because it is both a producing nation and consumer,” the minister noted. “But Brazil is different, because it, if it chooses to, does not have to depend on non-renewables. We have to understand that there are some that depend on fossil fuels in their economies and don’t have simple solutions, and others where oil and gas are the foundation of their economy.

“To be fair is to be just to all, but the essential, basic fairness is to avoid being unfair to the Earth, because it is our shared home.”

If the proposal gains enough backing, the summit could establish a platform in which the process of drawing up a strategy to the transition could start.

The endeavor would involve dialogue with every participating countries to the UN framework convention on climate change and guidelines for how the initiative would proceed, the minister said. “Once we have criteria, a governance structure can be developed; after we have a plan, and establish protections to be able to establish confidence in the system, I am confident that with these elements we can turn positive concepts into actions that are clearer, and more concrete.”

There is no guarantee that a suggestion to start drawing up a plan would be accepted at the conference, although it may not need the official consent of the conference, which proceeds by unanimous agreement and can be hijacked by special interests. COP analysts have indicated they believe there could be backing for such a proposal from about 60 nations, but there are thought to be at least forty against. There are one hundred ninety-five nations participating at the talks.

“Despite being the primary source of global warming, carbon-based energy are about the most contentious subject there is within the UN negotiations, so to see a sizable group of nations openly backing a route to realizing global transition is in itself highly significant.”

“In simple terms, there’s no route to a world where warming stays below 1.5 degrees in which countries aren’t able to discuss ending fossil fuel use.”

“We require this language for actual in this conversation. It’s highly illogical that we talk about all topics but that when fossil fuels are the real challenge.”

Negotiations carried on on the weekend on several unresolved issues that have not yet been incorporated into the formal schedule: commerce, transparency, funding and how to address the shortfall between the carbon reduction countries have planned and those required to keep to the 1.5-degree temperature limit.

The summit chair pledged a “document” that would cover these issues, after consultations – which have been going on since Monday – were inconclusive. The official called on nations to embrace the “mutirão” spirit, meaning one of collaboration and constructive dialogue.

Work on other substantive issues – such as adaptation to the effects of the climate crisis, the just transition for those impacted by the move to a low-carbon economy and how to build institutional capacity in less developed nations – carried on constructively, the presidency reported.

The host nation's lead representative stated the detailed phase of the summit process was nearing the end, and the political stage – when ministers who have the authority to change their nations' stances join – was starting.