Brazil's Environment Minister Urges Courage to Establish Fossil Fuel Phaseout Plan at UN Climate Summit

Brazil’s environment minister, the minister, has urged every country to demonstrate the courage needed to address the necessity of a worldwide transition away from fossil fuels, describing the development of a detailed plan as an “moral” answer to the global warming emergency.

She stressed, however, that involvement in this endeavor would be optional and “independently decided” for interested nations.

The topic remains one of the most debated matters at the COP30 in Brazil, with nations split over whether and in what way such a strategy can be addressed. Hosting the event, the nation has maintained a carefully neutral position on which items can be placed on the official schedule.

Silva voiced approval for the potential of a plan, without explicitly pledging the country to it. She stated: “When we have a terrain that is quite grim, it is good that we have a guide. But the map does not compel us to proceed, or to climb.”

In an interview, she noted: “The roadmap is an answer to our scientific understanding [of the climate emergency]. It is an moral response.”

Dozens of countries meeting in Belém for the global climate conference, which is starting its second week, are aiming to determine how a worldwide transition of fossil fuels could be implemented. These nations aim to advance a historic resolution reached two years ago at COP28 to “move away from non-renewable energy sources.”

The pledge had no a schedule or specifics on how it could be realized, and even though it was passed by all, some countries have later attempted to back away from the pledge. Attempts last year to elaborate on its practical implications were blocked by resistance from oil-dependent nations at another UN summit.

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

Because of this, Brazil has been wary of calls by certain nations to include the phaseout on the schedule for the current summit. But the minister has worked hard in private to ensure the pledge could be talked about at the conference apart from the official agenda.

She convinced the nation's leader, who gave public reference three times to the need to “shift from dependence on traditional energy” at the summit of world leaders that preceded COP30, and at the start of the summit.

“The issue is something that we know at a certain time had to be raised, because it is the sole way to face the issue from the source,” the minister said. “We acknowledge that it is not easy, and we must not offer unrealistic expectations. Bringing up the subject is brave, and I wish [to see] this bravery from everyone, from producers and using countries.”

The nation had not started the call for a phaseout, she said, because that had been done at the earlier summit. Rather, it was enabling the discussions to take place in accordance with what some nations desired. “We know these topics are delicate. We will give the opportunity to talk about it,” the minister added.

Time is insufficient at the summit to create a detailed plan, a process Silva said could take several years because many countries faced complex issues around dependence on fossil fuels, or wanted to use the revenue from selling oil and gas to fund their development.

“Brazil brings up the subject, because it is simultaneously a producer and consumer,” the minister said. “But Brazil is unique, because Brazil, if it chooses to, does not have to rely on fossil fuels. We have to understand that there are certain nations that rely on carbon energy in their economies and don’t have simple solutions, and others where fossil fuels are the basis of their economic structure.

“To be fair is to be just to everyone, but the essential, primordial fairness is not being unjust to the Earth, because it is our shared home.”

Should the pledge receives enough backing, the summit could set up a platform in which the work of creating a strategy to the phaseout could start.

The process would require discussions with every participating nations to the UN framework convention on climate change and criteria for how the process would proceed, the minister explained. “Once we have standards, a management framework can be developed; once we have a strategy, and create protections to be able to establish confidence in the process, I believe that with these elements we can transform good ideas into steps that are clearer, and more tangible.”

It is uncertain that a suggestion to start drawing up a roadmap would win approval at COP30, even if it may not need the official approval of the conference, which operates by consensus and can be disrupted by particular groups. Climate experts have suggested they believe there could be backing for such a proposal from about sixty countries, but there are believed to be at least 40 opposed. A total of one hundred ninety-five nations represented at the negotiations.

“In spite of being the root cause of global warming, carbon-based energy are about the most divisive subject there is within the UN negotiations, so to see a chunky group of countries publicly supporting a route to achieving global phaseout is in itself pretty groundbreaking.”

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

“We require this wording for actual in this discussion. It’s quite stupid that we talk about everything but then when the main issue are the actual problem.”

Discussions carried on on the weekend on several unresolved topics that have not yet been included into the official agenda: trade, openness, funding and how to address the gap between the carbon reduction nations have proposed and those needed to hold to the 1.5-degree temperature limit.

The summit president promised a “note” that would cover these matters, after discussions – which have been going on since Monday – were inconclusive. He called on countries to embrace the “mutirão” spirit, meaning one of collaboration and positive dialogue.

Progress on other key topics – including adaptation to the effects of the climate emergency, the just transition for those affected by the move to a green economy and how to build governance capabilities in less developed nations – carried on productively, the presidency reported.

The host nation's lead representative said the detailed phase of the COP proceedings was approaching the end, and the political phase – when ministers who have the authority to change their nations' stances arrive – was starting.