According to Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, the government wants to leave Belém with a “kind of mandate” to outline the roadmap. Germany, Denmark, and the UK support this.
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By Cristiane Prizibisczki
The end of the use of fossil fuels, the biggest global cause of climate change, has been appearing more and more at COP30, even though the topic is not on the formal negotiation agenda. On Wednesday afternoon, the Brazilian government held another event on the subject. According to Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, the idea is that the Belém Summit will end with a “kind of mandate” for decarbonization to enter the official track of negotiation agendas.
The debate brought together scientists and experts from different countries. The idea was to discuss how to move forward, in a concrete way, with the UAE Consensus, a decision taken in 2023 at Dubai’s COP28, in which countries committed to “transitioning away from fossil fuels.” The topic has not been pursued since then.
“Despite knowing the challenge very well, we are still far from reaching a consensus on how to solve this problem. One question remains necessary: How can we work together to move away from dependence on fossil fuels?” asked Marina Silva at the opening of the event.
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According to SIlva, the answer is complex, but the construction of the roadmap, proposed by President Lula during the opening of the Summit, is necessary.
“I am convinced that, despite all these difficulties, the best thing we can do is prepare for change. When we don’t prepare for change, we are changed. […]”, the minister continued.
According to Silva, heat waves, droughts, and extreme weather events, such as the tornado that struck cities in Paraná last week, bring us a “pedagogy of grief and pain.”
“What we want is for this map to be our compass for overcoming dependence on fossil fuels in a fair, orderly and planned way, resulting from a dialogue with everyone, so that no one is left behind,” she said.
Following the debate, which included figures such as Nicholas Stern, economist, president of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment Research in the UK and author of the Stern Review, Marina Silva spoke to journalists.
According to her, the idea is for COP30 to be able to include the roadmap for the end of fossil fuels in some negotiating track of the Conference, in the so-called mandated agenda.
“The work and the challenge that lies ahead […] is that we can, from here, if we succeed, emerge with a kind of mandate to draw up this roadmap. But this is not predetermined, it is a construction, it is a complex issue,” she said.
According to her, however, it is no longer possible to ignore the root of the climate change problem – greenhouse gas emissions, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels.
It is most likely that this “mandate” for the roadmap will be included within the ongoing negotiations of the Global Stocktake (GST). The next Global Stocktake will take place in three years, and if Brazil manages to establish a roadmap, it could effectively begin the decarbonization process at a global level.
Strong Supporters
The event, coordinated by Marina Silva, was attended by high-level representatives from Africa, Latin America, and Europe, as well as economic experts Nicholas Stern and Arunabha Ghosh, president of India’s Energy, Environment and Water Council. The tone was one of support for Brazil’s initiative to create a roadmap for the end of fossil fuels.
“To be very explicit, we will support any decision to create, to kick-start, a roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels this year, here in Belém. It would be a great sign and I hope we succeed,” said Jochen Flasbarth , Germany’s Deputy Minister for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
According to Ole Thonke, Ambassador for Climate and Undersecretary for Development Policy at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil’s leadership in creating a roadmap for US$1.3 billion — a report with suggestions on how to scale up climate finance, produced after the failure of COP29 in 2024 – could serve as inspiration for a similar roadmap aimed at ending fossil fuel production.
“Could we do something similar? Could we draw inspiration from this process [to build the roadmap] with fossil fuels? I see many opportunities to take this forward and I thank Brazil for taking the lead,” he said.
The UK also endorsed the proposal, saying the roadmap will help nations in their energy transition processes. “And this is very important, because Angola’s journey will be different from the UK’s, Guyana’s journey will be different from Brazil’s, Denmark’s journey will be different from Namibia’s, but we are all committed to the journey,” declared Rachel Kyte, UK Special Envoy for Climate Change.
The topic of the end of fossil fuels has also appeared on other fronts at COP30. According to Ana Carolina Amaral, from UOL, next Monday, Colombia should present a document entitled “Belém Declaration on Fossil Fuels”, which would have been signed by at least 50 countries.
Furthermore, another initiative, called the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, also has demands along the same lines.
Featured image: Peter Kronish via UNFCCC/Flickr.
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This story was originally produced by (( oeco )) through the Socio-environmental Collaborative Coverage of COP30, and published with edits by Earth.Org. Read the original story here.
