🔗 Share this article

The environment minister, the minister, has called on all nations to demonstrate the bravery needed to confront the imperative of a worldwide fossil fuel phaseout, describing the creation of a detailed plan as an “moral” answer to the global warming emergency.

The minister stressed, however, that involvement in this process would be voluntary and “self-determined” for interested nations.

This issue remains one of the most debated matters at the COP30 in the host country, with countries split over whether and in what way such a roadmap can be discussed. Hosting the event, the nation has adopted a balanced stance on which items can be placed on the formal agenda.

The official expressed approval for the possibility of a plan, without explicitly pledging Brazil to it. She stated: “In times we have a situation that is very challenging, it is helpful that we have a map. But the guide does not compel us to proceed, or to advance.”

In an interview, she added: “The map is an answer to our scientific understanding [of the climate emergency]. It is an ethical answer.”

Scores of countries meeting in the host city for the global climate conference, which is entering its next phase, are aiming to determine how a worldwide transition of oil, gas, and coal could be implemented. These nations hope to advance a landmark resolution made two years ago at COP28 to “move away from fossil fuels.”

That commitment lacked a timetable or specifics on the way it could be achieved, and even though it was passed unanimously, some nations have since attempted to disavow the pledge. Efforts last year to expand on its real-world meaning were blocked by resistance from petrostates at COP29.

Consequently, there was no mention of the transition away from fossil fuels in the final agreement of COP29.

For these reasons, the host has been cautious of demands by certain countries to place the phaseout on the agenda for the current summit. But Silva has strived in private to ensure the pledge could be talked about at the summit outside the official program.

The minister won over the nation's president, and he gave mention three times to the need to “shift from dependence on traditional energy” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded COP30, and at the start of the summit.

“The issue is a matter that we understand at a certain time had to be put forward, because it is the only way to address the problem from the source,” Marina Silva said. “We acknowledge that it is challenging, and we must not sell false hopes. Raising the subject is brave, and I hope [to see] this courage from everyone, from producers and consumers.”

The nation had not initiated the push for a transition, she said, because that had been done at the earlier summit. Instead, it was enabling the talks to occur in line with what certain countries wished. “We know these subjects are delicate. We will provide the chance to talk about it,” the minister said.

There is not enough time at COP30 to create a detailed plan, a task Silva said could take a number of years because many nations confronted complex challenges around reliance on carbon-based energy, or wanted to use the proceeds from selling oil and gas to fund their development.

“The country brings up the subject, because Brazil is simultaneously a producer and consumer,” she said. “But the nation is unique, because Brazil, if it chooses to, does not have to rely on non-renewables. We have to recognise that there are certain nations that rely on carbon energy in their economies and don’t have easy alternatives, and some where oil and gas are the foundation of their economy.

“To be fair is to be fair to all, but the fundamental, basic fairness is not being unfair to the Earth, because it is our shared home.”

If the pledge gains enough support, COP30 could set up a platform in which the work of drawing up a roadmap to the transition could begin.

This process would require dialogue with every signatory countries to the UN framework convention on climate change and criteria for how the process would proceed, Silva said. “After we have standards, a governance structure can be developed; after we have a strategy, and establish safeguards to be able to establish confidence in the process, I believe that with these components we can transform good ideas into steps that are more defined, and more tangible.”

It is uncertain that a proposal to begin drawing up a roadmap would be accepted at the conference, although it does not require the formal approval of the summit, which operates by unanimous agreement and can be hijacked by particular groups. COP experts have suggested they believe there could be backing for such a proposal from about sixty countries, but there are thought to be at least 40 against. There are one hundred ninety-five nations participating at the negotiations.

“In spite of being the root cause of climate change, carbon-based energy are about the most contentious subject there is within the UN negotiations, so to see a sizable coalition of nations publicly supporting a route to realizing global transition is in itself pretty groundbreaking.”

“Put simply, there’s no path to a planet where warming remains below 1.5 degrees in which countries cannot to discuss ending fossil fuel use.”

“We need this language for actual in this discussion. It’s quite stupid that we talk about all topics but that when the main issue are the real problem.”

Negotiations carried on on Saturday on several outstanding topics that have not yet been incorporated into the official agenda: commerce, openness, finance and how to tackle the shortfall between the emissions cuts nations have proposed and those required to keep to the 1.5C warming target.

A summit president promised a “note” that would address these issues, after discussions – which have been underway since the start of the week – were unresolved. He called on countries to adopt the “mutirão” attitude, meaning one of collaboration and positive discussion.

Progress on additional key topics – such as adjustment to the impacts of the climate emergency, the fair shift for those impacted by the move to a green economy and how to build institutional capacity in developing countries – carried on productively, the host reported.

The host nation's lead representative stated the detailed phase of the summit process was approaching the end, and the high-level stage – when ministers who have the authority to change their countries’ stances join – was beginning.