Brazil secures support from over 80 nations to end fossil fuels
Ministerial representatives from more than 80 countries have declared official support for Brazil’s proposed roadmap away from fossil fuels, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The announcement was made on Tuesday (Nov. 18) during the Collective Call for a Fossil Fuel Roadmap event, which brought together countries from the Global North and South.
A roadmap is a concept used to describe action plans that set out the steps and goals for achieving a specific objective.
The proposal gained momentum at the start of the Leaders’ Summit at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), when President Lula called on countries to develop a global timetable for phasing out oil, natural gas, and coal.
Not all country names have been released yet, but representatives from Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and the Marshall Islands spoke at the announcement of their support.
UK Secretary of State Ed Miliband emphasized that this is an unprecedented mobilization.
“This is a great coalition of the Global South and the Global North, all speaking with one voice to say that this is a problem that cannot be ignored or swept under the rug. We have an opportunity over the next few days to make COP30 the moment to advance the transition away from fossil fuels,” Miliband noted.
For highly vulnerable countries such as Sierra Leone, the debate is a matter of survival, warned Minister Jiwoh Abdulai.
“For countries like Sierra Leone, which is one of the most vulnerable in the world, a 1.5°C increase in global temperature is a matter of survival. It is not just a climate issue. It is about our existence. It is also an economic problem. We are reaching the point where the cost of adaptation is rising much faster than we can manage,” Abdulai said.
Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, welcomed the support and said that promises must be effectively put into practice.
“These countries are showing a willingness to strengthen climate multilateralism, a willingness to do what has been expected for more than 30 years, which is to take appropriate action on the main cause of global warming, which is CO₂ emissions, especially from the burning of oil, gas, and coal. But this cannot be solved with magic. We need financing, economic diversification, and the expansion of technological capacities to make this journey. We are 30 years behind, but we are in a hurry,” Silva stated.
Marcio Astrini, from the Climate Observatory, assessed that the Brazilian proposal consolidated broad international support.
“What we saw today is that much of the audience listening to the speech went onstage with the president, supports the same idea, and echoes the same request. More than 80 countries want this roadmap away from fossil fuels to be the outcome of this meeting,” Astrini added.
But while officials celebrated the diplomatic breakthrough, territorial organizations and social movements argued that constructing the global roadmap ignores those who live with the direct consequences of fossil fuel infrastructure. In a statement, the Arayara International Institute said there is a central contradiction between the roadmap’s rhetoric and the reality experienced by affected communities, including indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and traditional peoples.
“A joint effort made only by state leaders, without the presence of community leaders, cannot reflect the wisdom of those in the territory, cannot heal their pain, or promote climate justice. It is, therefore, incomplete,” the institute’s statement reads.
