350.org welcomes Brazil’s first step toward a national fossil fuel phase-out roadmap, but urges strong implementation, community participation, and science-based ambition
Brazil, 8 December – 350.org welcomes the decision published today by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva instructing the Ministries of Mines and Energy, Finance, Environment and Climate Change, and the Chief of Staff’s Office to develop, within 60 days, a proposed resolution outlining the guidelines for a “roadmap for a just and planned energy transition” aimed at gradually reducing Brazil’s dependence on fossil fuels. The proposal is expected to include mechanisms to finance the transition and the creation of a dedicated Energy Transition Fund, fed by government revenues from oil and gas extraction.
This announcement arrives at a decisive moment. Coming immediately after COP30, where Brazil, as conference President, helped build unprecedented momentum toward a global fossil fuel phase-out roadmap. It also aligns with growing regional leadership, including Colombia’s recent conference announcement and declaration to accelerate the end of the fossil fuel era.
“President Lula’s decision to begin developing a roadmap away from fossil fuels is an important and timely signal, but its credibility will depend entirely on how it is designed. As Lula himself noted, countries must confront the contradiction between expanding fossil fuel production, including in the Amazon, and what science demands to avoid the worst climate impacts. A meaningful roadmap must deliver a fair and orderly transition grounded in science and the public interest. That also means securing adequate, fair and transparent financing to make the transition real on the ground. And it requires a truly participatory process – involving scientists, civil society, workers whose livelihoods are at stake, and frontline and traditional communities whose rights must be upheld – while ensuring that those with vested fossil fuel interests do not shape the outcome”, said Andreas Sieber, Associate Director for Policy and Campaigns at 350.org.
Background and Analysis:
- Research by 350.org and partners shows Brazils oil and gas output is projected to rise 36% by 2035. Yet according to the International Energy Agency global fossil fuel production must fall by 55% over the same period to keep 1.5°C within reach.
- COP President André Correa do Lago announced at the close of COP30 that Brazil will launch a collective international process to develop a roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels. This effort will build on the Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Conference in April in Colombia and will report back to COP31, the next major UN climate summit.
- Critical elements of a successful roadmap include:
- Inclusive, transparent process
- Science-based and politically anchored
- Direction-setting with clear milestones including temporal benchmarks and timebound sectoral pathways
- Identification of enabling conditions and support needs
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