PRESS RELEASE
Little more than two weeks before COP30, the Brazilian government approved this Monday (10/20) the oil drilling license for block FZA-M-59, in the sedimentary basin of the Mouth of the Amazon. The approval is an act of sabotage against the COP and undermines the climate leadership claimed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. It also creates difficulties for the president of COP, André Corrêa do Lago, who will need to explain it to Brazil’s international partners. The decision is disastrous from an environmental, climate, and socio-biodiversity point of view, and to confront it, civil society organizations and social movements will go to court to denounce the illegalities and technical failures in the licensing process, which could render the license void.
Besides contradicting science, which states that no new fossil project can be licensed if we want to have a chance of keeping global warming at 1.5°C, the permit for drilling the Mouth also goes against legal decisions by international courts regarding the urgency of halting the expansion of fossil fuels, including recent deliberations by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice, which reinforce the legal obligation of nation-states to protect the climate.
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin, parliamentarians, and civil society have been reiterating the need to end oil and gas expansion, especially in areas of high biodiversity, and to create exclusion zones for extractive activities, in order to protect ecosystems critical to the planet – starting with the Amazon. It is necessary to establish exclusion zones for fossil fuel proliferation, protecting ecosystems critical for life on the planet. Due to its immense relevance for the climate and biodiversity, which face global crises, the Amazon must be one of these zones, both for onshore and offshore exploration.
Civil society experts and representatives of Amazonian indigenous peoples offer the following analyses:
“The issuance of the license for Block 59 is a double sabotage. On the one hand, the Brazilian government acts against humanity by stimulating further fossil expansion, contradicting science and betting on more global warming. On the other hand, it hinders COP30 itself, whose most important delivery needs to be the implementation of the determination to phase out fossil fuels. Lula has just sank his claim to be a climate leader in the deep ocean at the Mouth of the Amazon. The government will be duly sued for this in the coming days.” Suely Araújo, coordinator of Public Policies at the Climate Observatory (Observatório do Clima)
“The decision to license is clearly political — not technical. The value of an oil probe can never outweigh the value of life for Amazonian communities, biodiversity, or the planet’s climate balance. Petrobras, responsible for 29% of all new fossil projects in Latin America, is the main protagonist of fossil expansion on the continent. By insisting on drilling Block 50, it establishes itself as the Continental Leader of Non-Energy Transition.” Nicole Oliveira, executive director of the Arayara Institute (Instituto Arayara)
“The Amazon is very close to the tipping point, which will be irreversibly reached if global warming hits 2°C and deforestation exceeds 20%. In addition to zeroing all deforestation, degradation, and fire in the Amazon, it becomes urgent to reduce all fossil fuel emissions. There is no justification for any new oil exploration. On the contrary, quickly abandoning current fossil fuels in exploration is essential.” Carlos Nobre, co-chair of the Science Panel for the Amazon
“The worsening of the climate crisis, caused by the production and burning of fossil fuels, leaves no doubt that we must accelerate the energy transition to solar and wind production. Brazil has the opportunity to explore its enormous potential for solar and wind energy generation and become a world power in sustainable energy. We must not waste this opportunity. Opening new areas for oil production will help to further aggravate climate change, and this certainly goes against the interests of the Brazilian people.” Paulo Artaxo, Physicist, IPCC member, specializing in climate crisis and the Amazon
“It is unacceptable that the government continues to promote oil and gas exploration in the Amazon basin, an area vital for climate and biodiversity protection. This decision contradicts commitments to the energy transition and puts communities, ecosystems, and the planet at risk. Contrary to what they claim, oil resources invest little in the transition, only 0.06%. We need a global agreement to eliminate oil extraction in a fair, equitable, and sustainable manner. Until then, the minimum we have to do is prevent its expansion.” Clara Junger – Campaign Coordinator in Brazil – Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
“Authorizing new oil fronts in the Amazon is not just a historical mistake; it is insisting on a model that did not work. The history of oil in Brazil clearly shows this: much profit for few, and inequality, destruction, and violence for local populations. The country needs to assume real climate leadership and break with this cycle of exploitation that brought us to the current crisis. It is urgent to build a just energy transition plan, based on renewables, that respects indigenous, quilombola, and riverside peoples, and that guarantees them a protagonist role in decisions about climate and energy, including at COP30.” Ilan Zugman, director of 350.org for Latin America and the Caribbean
PRESS INFORMATION
Solange A. Barreira – Observatório do Clima
+ 55 11 98108-7272
