Brazilian Environment Minister Calls for Courage to Create Fossil Fuel Phase-out Plan at COP30

Brazil’s environment minister, the minister, has called on every country to show the courage needed to confront the imperative of a global fossil fuel phaseout, describing the development of a detailed plan as an “ethical” answer to the climate crisis.

The minister stressed, though, that involvement in this endeavor would be optional and “self-determined” for interested governments.

This issue remains one of the most debated subjects at the COP30 in Brazil, with nations split over whether and in what way such a strategy can be addressed. As the host, Brazil has adopted a carefully neutral stance on which items can be included on the formal schedule.

The official expressed approval for the possibility of a plan, though not directly committing the country to it. She remarked: “When we have a situation that is very challenging, it is helpful that we have a guide. But the map does not force us to proceed, or to advance.”

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

Scores of nations meeting in Belém for the global climate conference, which is starting its next phase, are aiming to determine how a global phaseout of oil, gas, and coal could work. They aim to build on a historic resolution reached two years ago at a previous UN summit to “move away from non-renewable energy sources.”

The commitment lacked a schedule or details on how it could be achieved, and although it was adopted unanimously, some nations have since attempted to back away from the promise. Attempts last year to elaborate on its real-world meaning were blocked by resistance from petrostates at another UN summit.

Consequently, there was no reference of the transition away from carbon fuels in the outcome of that conference.

For these reasons, the host has been wary of calls by some countries to place the transition on the agenda for the current summit. But Silva has strived in private to ensure the topic could be talked about at the conference outside the official program.

She convinced Brazil’s president, who gave public reference three times to the need to “move away from reliance on traditional energy” at the global leaders' meeting that came before the conference, and at the opening of the event.

“The issue is a matter that we know at a certain time had to be put forward, because it is the only way to face the problem from the source,” the minister explained. “We recognise that it is not easy, and we cannot offer unrealistic expectations. Bringing up the subject is brave, and I hope [to see] this courage from everyone, from producing nations and using countries.”

Brazil had not initiated the push for a phaseout, she clarified, because that had been done at COP28. Instead, it was allowing the talks to occur in line with what certain nations wished. “We know these subjects are sensitive. We will give the opportunity to discuss it,” the minister added.

Time is insufficient at the summit to draw up a roadmap, a task the minister said could take a number of years because many nations confronted complex challenges around reliance on fossil fuels, or aimed to use the proceeds from exporting fossil fuels to fund their development.

“The country raises the topic, because Brazil is simultaneously a producing nation and user,” she noted. “But the nation is unique, because it, if it wants to, need not rely on fossil fuels. We have to understand that there are some that depend on fossil fuels in their economies and lack easy solutions, and others where oil and gas are the foundation of their economic structure.

“To be fair is to be just to everyone, but the fundamental, basic justice is not being unjust to the Earth, because it is our home.”

If the pledge receives sufficient support, COP30 could set up a platform in which the work of creating a strategy to the phaseout could start.

The endeavor would require discussions with every participating nations to the UN framework convention on climate change and criteria for how the process would unfold, Silva explained. “After we have standards, a governance structure can be developed; after we have a strategy, and establish protections to be able to build trust in the process, I am confident that with these components we can turn good ideas into actions that are more defined, and more concrete.”

There is no guarantee that a proposal to begin drawing up a plan would be accepted at the conference, although it may not need the formal approval of the conference, which proceeds by consensus and can be hijacked by special interests. COP analysts have suggested they think there could be backing for such a idea from about 60 nations, but there are thought to be at least forty opposed. A total of one hundred ninety-five countries participating at the talks.

“In spite of being the root cause of climate change, fossil fuels are about the most contentious subject there is within the UN negotiations, so to see a sizable coalition of countries openly backing a path to achieving worldwide phaseout is in itself pretty groundbreaking.”

“In simple terms, there’s no path to a planet where warming stays below 1.5C in which countries aren’t able to talk about ending fossil fuel use.”

“We need this wording for actual in this conversation. It’s highly illogical that we talk about everything but that when the main issue are the real challenge.”

Negotiations carried on on Saturday on four unresolved topics that have not yet been incorporated into the official agenda: commerce, transparency, finance and how to address the gap between the carbon reduction nations have planned and those required to keep to the 1.5C warming target.

A summit president promised a “note” that would cover these matters, after consultations – which have been underway since Monday – were unresolved. The official urged nations to embrace the “mutirão” spirit, referring to one of cooperation and constructive discussion.

Progress on additional key issues – such as adjustment to the effects of the climate crisis, the fair shift for those impacted by the move to a low-carbon economy and how to strengthen governance capabilities in developing countries – proceeded productively, the host reported.

The host nation's chief negotiator said the technical part of the summit proceedings was nearing the end, and the political phase – when ministers who have the power to change their nations' stances arrive – was beginning.