The climate chief, the minister, has called on every country to show the bravery needed to address the necessity of a global fossil fuel phaseout, describing the development of a detailed plan as an “moral” answer to the global warming emergency.
She stressed, however, that participation in this endeavor would be optional and “independently decided” for willing governments.
This issue stands as one of the most contentious matters at the COP30 in the host country, with countries split over if and in what way such a strategy can be discussed. As the host, Brazil has adopted a carefully neutral position on which items can be placed on the formal agenda.
The official expressed support for the possibility of a plan, though not explicitly committing Brazil to it. The minister stated: “When we have a terrain that is very challenging, it is good that we have a map. But the guide does not compel us to travel, or to advance.”
Speaking further, the minister added: “The map is an answer to our scientific knowledge [of the climate crisis]. It is an moral answer.”
Scores of nations meeting in the host city for the UN climate summit, which is starting its second week, are aiming to establish how a worldwide phaseout of oil, gas, and coal could work. They aim to advance a landmark resolution reached two years ago at a previous UN summit to “move away from fossil fuels.”
The commitment lacked a timetable or details on how it could be achieved, and although it was adopted unanimously, some nations have since tried to disavow the pledge. Efforts last year to elaborate on its practical implications were blocked by resistance from petrostates at COP29.
Consequently, there was no mention of the shift away from fossil fuels in the final agreement of that conference.
For these reasons, the host has been wary of calls by some nations to place the transition on the schedule for the current summit. But Silva has strived in private to ensure the topic could be talked about at the conference apart from the official program.
The minister convinced Brazil’s leader, and he gave public reference three times to the need to “shift from dependence on fossil fuels” at the summit of world leaders that preceded COP30, and at the start of the summit.
“This is a matter that we know at some point had to be raised, because it is the sole way to address the issue from the root,” the minister said. “We acknowledge that it is not easy, and we must not offer false hopes. Raising the subject is brave, and I hope [to see] this courage from everyone, from producers and using countries.”
The nation had not initiated the push for a transition, the minister clarified, because that had been initiated at COP28. Instead, it was allowing the talks to take place in accordance with what certain nations desired. “We understand these subjects are delicate. We will provide the opportunity to discuss it,” the minister said.
There is not enough time at the summit to draw up a detailed plan, a process Silva called could take a number of years because many nations faced complicated issues around reliance on fossil fuels, or wanted to use the revenue from selling fossil fuels to finance their development.
“The country brings up the topic, because Brazil is simultaneously a producer and consumer,” the minister noted. “But Brazil is different, because Brazil, if it chooses to, does not have to rely on fossil fuels. We have to understand that there are some that rely on fossil fuels in their economic systems and don’t have simple solutions, and some where fossil fuels are the basis of their economy.
“To be just is to be just to all, but the essential, basic justice is not being unjust to the Earth, because it is our home.”
If the pledge gains sufficient backing, the summit could set up a forum in which the process of drawing up a roadmap to the transition could start.
This process would require discussions with all signatory nations to the UN climate treaty and criteria for how the process would unfold, the minister explained. “Once we have criteria, a governance structure can be developed; once we have a strategy, and create safeguards to be able to build confidence in the process, I believe that with these elements we can transform good ideas into actions that are clearer, and more concrete.”
There is no guarantee that a suggestion to begin developing a roadmap would win approval at COP30, although it does not require the formal consent of the conference, which proceeds by consensus and can be disrupted by special interests. COP analysts have suggested they believe there could be support for such a proposal from about sixty nations, but there are believed to be at least forty against. A total of 195 countries represented at the negotiations.
“Despite 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 sizable group of nations openly backing a path to realizing global phaseout is in itself highly significant.”
“Put simply, there’s no route to a planet where warming remains below 1.5 degrees in which nations aren’t able to discuss fossil fuel phaseout.”
“We need this language for actual in this conversation. It’s highly illogical that we discuss everything but then when the main issue are the actual problem.”
Negotiations continued on Saturday on four outstanding topics that have still not been included into the formal schedule: commerce, transparency, funding and how to tackle the shortfall between the emissions cuts nations have planned and those needed to hold to the 1.5C temperature limit.
A summit president pledged a “document” that would address these matters, after discussions – which have been going on since Monday – were unresolved. The official called on nations to embrace the “mutirão” attitude, referring to one of collaboration and constructive dialogue.
Progress on other substantive issues – such as adaptation to the effects of the climate emergency, the fair shift for those impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economic system and how to build institutional capacity in developing countries – carried on productively, the host reported.
Brazil’s lead representative said the detailed phase of the summit proceedings was approaching the end, and the high-level stage – when government leaders who have the power to change their countries’ positions join – was beginning.
Elara is a financial strategist with over a decade of experience in wealth management and entrepreneurship.
