Olusegun Ariyo
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has underlined the need to release the license for Petrobras to drill in block FZA-M-59, in the mouth of the Amazon.
But the Brazilian President’s latest statements concerning oil exploration in the Amazon appear not to have gone down well with leaders of civil society, indigenous and quilombola organisations, who spoke out in a reaction on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.
Kumi Naidoo, President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “It is a mockery that, while we are gathered here to discuss what true leadership for climate justice looks like, the Brazilian government is trying to use COP30 to greenwash a decision that is dripping with dirty oil, handing over to the oil industry one of the world’s most important areas for climate protection.
“It is disrespectful to Brazilian citizens and outrageous to local traditional communities and Indigenous peoples across the country, the Amazon and the world, who have been consistent and clear that the expansion of extractive industries like these oil projects threatens their sovereignty, their territories, their cultures and, in fact, all life on Earth. In an era of retrograde policies like Trump’s “drill, baby drill,” progressive leaders like Lula must step up and honour at home the image they want to project internationally. If Brazil wants to be a true global leader in 2025, it must recognize that fossil fuels must be left in the past – and in the ground.”
Ilan Zugman, 350.org Latin America and the Caribbean Director said: “Who is the Amazon COP for? The Brazilian government needs to decide whether it is going to work for the survival of the planet and those who are most vulnerable to the climate emergency or continue with contradictory speeches and actions. It is unacceptable that President Lula, while we are all experiencing constant droughts and floods and debating a just energy transition, continues to sell the Amazon to projects that destroy it and negatively exploit those who inhabit and protect it. Opening the doors of the Amazon to the exploitation of fossil fuels, as well as putting at risk the traditional communities and Indigenous peoples who inhabit the region, goes against the very discourse of preserving the Amazon to help regulate the planet’s climate.”
Ricardo Fujii, Conservation Specialist at WWF-Brasil, said: “Advancing oil exploration in the Amazon River’s mouth is a strategic error as it diverts the country from its competitive advantages in renewable, low-cost, and low-impact energy sources, prioritizing oil production for export in a market that is already saturated and in which competitors are capable of producing at lower costs and with a smaller carbon footprint, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. This will cause these investments to be unprofitable and squander the opportunity for Brazil to lead the global energy transition.
“Moreover, oil exploration in the Amazon River’s mouth is unnecessary to meet Brazil’s energy needs within a trajectory aligned with the 1.5°C global warming limit. Investing in the Equatorial Margin could lead to significant socio-environmental impacts in the region, including on artisanal and industrial fishing activities, which are important to the economy of the country’s northern coast.”
Suely Araujo, Public Policy Coordinator at the Observatório do Clima, said: “No environmental license should be issued under pressure. Ibama has already granted over 2,000 offshore drilling licenses. Now, the denial of a single permit is being used as a rallying cry for unrestricted approvals across the Equatorial Margin. The Block 59 area is highly environmentally sensitive, with extremely strong currents. Ibama’s technical experts have been warning for years about the risks associated with these conditions. If the government had conducted the environmental assessments of sedimentary basins that have been planned since 2012, the Foz do Amazonas Basin would have already been classified as unsuitable for oil production.”
André Guimarães, Executive Director, IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), said: “It is inconceivable to endorse initiatives that will worsen the Earth’s climate collapse and, in turn, claim millions of lives. Brazil has already led the way in valuing forests as part of the climate solution, alongside transitioning away from fossil fuels. Therefore, we can also lead the creation of ‘green royalties,’ aimed at financially compensating national and subnational states for no longer exploiting the oil that lies, by nature’s hand, beneath their lands—for the sake of nature itself, our generation, and future generations.”
Natalie Unterstell, President of Instituto Talanoa, said: “The decision to approve oil exploration in the Amazon River’s mouth is unacceptable and puts Brazil on the wrong side of history. The government must abandon fossil fuel expansion once and for all and focus on transitioning to a low-carbon economy. There is no room left for such dirty and risky bets – not for the climate, biodiversity, or local communities. Brazil has everything it takes to lead the global energy revolution, but it will only succeed if it stops bowing to the oil lobby and truly commits to the future.”
Mariana Andrade, Oceans Coordinator, Greenpeace Brasil, said: “By insisting on oil exploration in the Amazon River’s mouth, President Lula has defended an unsustainable economic project, based on an outdated extractive model, socially exclusive and environmentally predatory. Betting on oil as a driver of energy transition not only contradicts Brazil’s climate commitments but also puts marine ecosystems and inestimable costs at risk.
“Although the region of the Amazon River’s mouth has been the target of oil and gas exploration for years, removing oil from the Equatorial Margin would increase carbon emissions, distancing Brazil from the global climate leadership at a decisive moment for the environmental agenda. And for this, contrary to what Lula stated, there is no ‘agreement’, as it is a complete contradiction that a country that holds such an advantageous position in the environmental agenda as Brazil lends itself to a defender of reckless exploration of an area of such socio-environmental sensitivity.”
Mauricio Bianco, vice-president, of International Conservation, Brazil, said: “Oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River goes against Brazil’s vocation to establish itself as a leader in building the global strategy against climate and biodiversity crises, with nature playing a major role in providing nature-based solutions.
“The blue carbon stored in the mangroves of the Brazilian Amazon can hold up to four times more carbon than the tropical forest. Traditional populations depend on the biome for their livelihoods and are key players in conservation.
“The risks of this exploration outweigh any potential economic benefit. Fossil fuels are at the heart of the climate crisis, and new explorations further drive global warming beyond points of no return. Extreme weather events have already cost the world $94 trillion in infrastructure over the past 20 years, and this trend is set to worsen. By 2030, the number of people impacted by floods could double, while urban areas affected by extreme rainfall are expected to triple. Additionally, the private land affected by rising sea levels could be up to ten times larger.
“Collective benefits are diminished in this new scenario, as we face increasingly extreme and frequent climate events with severe economic and social impacts, affecting infrastructure, agriculture, biodiversity, public health — and above all, putting lives at risk.”
Carolina Marçal, Project Coordinator of Instituto ClimaInfo, said: “Brazil has the potential to shape the global climate agenda! However, while the world needs a global agreement to eliminate fossil fuels, the country is moving forward with opening a new well in the Amazon, a sensitive area for climate and biodiversity that, given the aggravation of the climate crisis, should become a protection zone.
“Contrary to what is promised, oil exploration does not bring local development, this is an activity that historically concentrates income, is environmentally predatory and socially exclusionary. Brazil can be a giant without needing this oil and become a green superpower by directing investments and public policies to enable the expansion of renewables in a fair way and the development of sustainable production chains.”
In 2023, President Lula said that he found it “difficult” to believe that oil exploration in the Amazon basin would cause environmental damage to the region’s rainforest, the largest in the world.
Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama had blocked a request by Petroleo Brasileiro to drill at the mouth of the Amazon near Amapa, in a much-awaited decision seen as a broader ruling on whether the state-run oil giant will be able to explore the oil-rich, environmentally sensitive region.
