![\"Brazil's](\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/2300fada-b0be-11f0-9029-005056a90284\/w:1280\/p:16x9\/000-64U36NP.jpg\")
Brazil<\/a>\u2019s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva<\/a> has worked hard to cultivate a reputation as a staunch defender of the climate. Speaking at his 2023 inauguration<\/a>, Lula promised to turn his country into \u201ca leader in the fight against the climate crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there have been some notable successes: last month, Amazon deforestation hit an 11-year low<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These lofty ambitions will be on full display as Brazil prepares to host the COP30<\/a> climate summit in the port city of Belem on the edge of the sprawling Amazon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more COP30: Host city Belem is ‘at the heart of the issues’ and a gateway to the Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n But barely three weeks earlier, Brazil’s majority state-owned oil giant Petrobas announced that it had received approval to drill exploratory oil wells<\/a> at the mouth of the Amazon River. The decision had many environmental activists criticising this apparent paradox at the heart of Lula\u2019s climate policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrazil’s presidency of COP30 is hypocritical, as it claims to want to raise climate ambitions while granting a new oil exploration license to its national company,\u201d said Fanny Petitbon, France director of the 350.org clean energy NGO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s completely mind-boggling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brazilian activists were also quick to condemn the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe approval is an act of sabotage against the COP and undermines the climate leadership claimed by President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva,\u201d the country’s Climate Observatory said in a statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s on the agenda for COP30?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Petrobas has for decades been eyeing this stretch of water in what\u2019s known as the Equatorial Margin, some 500 kilometres from the mouth of the Amazon River. And with good reason \u2013 like similar swaths of territory off the coasts of neighbouring Suriname<\/a> and Guyana<\/a>, it holds vast reserves of oil. Brazilian authorities estimate that the black gold buried beneath these waters could bring in \u20ac46 billion and create more than 350,000 new jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) has long baulked at the project, it finally gave its approval after what it described as<\/a> a \u201crigorous process\u201d with \u201cmore than 65 technical consultations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Climate action in a fractured world: Is there a will ‘to cooperate in a world full of conflict’?<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the project is far from risk-free, either for the region\u2019s biodiversity or the communities living along the coast. In a technical report published by Brazilian daily Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a>, IBAMA found that the drilling could have dire repercussions for the manatees that call the coast home \u2013 mammals that are already facing the risk of extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The region is also home to the largest expanse of mangroves in the world \u2013 a fragile ecosystem that Brazil Journal said is also threatened by the project. The Equatorial Margin\u2019s coast also harbours three Indigenous lands and six quilombola<\/em> territories \u2013 peopled by the descendants of African slaves \u2013 as well as countless fishing villages that would be the first to bear the brunt of any oil spills or other industrial accidents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So why was such a project approved under a self-proclaimed climate defender such as Lula? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis sums up the duality of the Brazilian president, caught between economic and ecological interests,\u201d said Catherine Aubertin, research director at France’s Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With an average of 3.4 million barrels produced every day<\/a> in 2024, Brazil is the world\u2019s eighth-largest oil exporter. In 2024, crude oil became the country\u2019s chief export<\/a>, overtaking soybeans and making up 13.3 percent of Brazil\u2019s total exports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking last year at COP29<\/a> in Azerbaijan<\/a> \u2013 another major crude oil producer \u2013 Lula said he wanted to continue to increase Brazil\u2019s oil exports to 36 percent by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Global South charting a greener future with climate solutions sparking economic growth<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s just one problem. According to projections, Brazil\u2019s oil production will begin to decline from 2030 onwards<\/a> as its current reserves are depleted. It\u2019s a prognosis that has set off something of a panic in the upper ranks of the Brazilian government as well as the halls of Petrobas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Equatorial Margin is the future of Brazil’s energy sovereignty,\u201d Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira wrote in a social media post<\/a>. \u201cWe are ensuring that exploration is carried out with environmental responsibility, in accordance with the highest international standards, generating benefits for the Brazilian people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But climate scientists and activists agree that the time for looking for new oil reserves is over. Instead, they say, moving away from fossil fuels<\/a> \u2013 the leading emitters of greenhouse gases \u2013 is crucial if humanity is to slow the world\u2019s warming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Read moreWorld leaders to rally in support of climate action before COP30 summit<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a Climate Observatory analysis, emissions released by Brazil\u2019s energy sector are likely to rise from 490.6 million tonnes to 558 million tonnes of CO2<\/a> by 2050. It\u2019s a far cry from the country\u2019s ambitious promise to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from 67 percent to 59 percent by the same year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a contradiction that the Brazilian president is more or less owning up to,\u201d Aubertin said. \u201cHe responds to it by repeating the same argument as other large oil producers: he supports the idea that oil revenue is used to finance the energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs it contradictory? It is,\u201d Lula conceded in a June 2024 interview with Brazilian radio CBN. \u201cBut as long as the energy transition isn\u2019t solving our problem, Brazil needs to make money from this oil.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aubertin stressed that Lula\u2019s track record on climate change<\/a> is more nuanced than the president\u2019s oil ambitions make it seem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven though Brazil is exporting its oil, it has still reached a very good level in terms of [the sustainability of] its internal energy consumption,\u201d she said. \u201cEighty-nine percent of its electricity production comes from renewable energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Brazilian president has also undertaken a range of actions to make good on his climate commitments, Aubertin said. Since 2023, Lula has put in place a national energy transition policy with investment potential of up to \u20ac330 billion<\/a> as well as ratifying a law creating a mandatory carbon market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But his main victory in the fight to protect the environment has taken place on a different front: the fight against deforestation<\/a>. Since coming to office, Lula has championed the struggle against illegal logging as one of the most critical goals of his presidency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Read moreBrazil’s Lula urges less talk, more action at COP30 climate meet<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n He brought back Marina Silva<\/a> as environment minister, who had already managed to drastically lower the rate of deforestation during Lula\u2019s first two terms (2003-2010). At the same time, the Brazilian president reactivated the Amazon Fund<\/a>, an international financial mechanism designed to raise money in the fight against deforestation, strengthened regulations and stiffened penalties for illegal logging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In just two years, the results have been spectacular. Although deforestation affected more than 10,000 square kilometres in 2022, the last year of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>\u2019s term in office, Brazil\u2019s deforestation had been halved by 2023<\/a> and continued to fall to close to 4,200 square kilometres in 2024. Outside of the nation\u2019s massive rainforests, deforestation levels also fell in other vulnerable ecosystems such as the Cerrado, the biodiverse savanna south of the Amazon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Read moreBrazil records biggest annual fall in emissions in 15 years: report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDeforestation is mainly due to infrastructure construction and agricultural expansion, whether legal or illegal,\u201d said Erin Matson, a consultant at Climate Focus and the author of a comprehensive report published in mid-October on the state of the world’s forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrazil’s excellent results show that simply strengthening controls can quickly and drastically reduce deforestation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the long term, curbing deforestation will only be possible through profound changes to our economic model, as pressure on forests continues to increase in line with global demand for soy, wood and paper,\u201d she added. \u201cBut Brazil provides a very good example of how, when a head of state takes action, results can be achieved.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLula acts with the leverage that he has,\u201d Aubertin said. With Brazil’s Congress dominated by conservatives keen on continued investment in petrol<\/a> and representatives of agribusiness<\/a> still carrying significant weight in the halls of power, \u201che is bound hand and foot and has to deal with a lot of pressures \u2013 sometimes contradictory ones\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps because of this, Brazil\u2019s agribusiness sector, which is responsible for 30.5 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, seems to have remained untouched by any environmental measures that would cut into its profit margins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The industry managed to avoid the application of the carbon market law thanks to the support of the Parliamentary Agricultural Front, a powerful legislative bloc that often advocates for the agribusiness industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As COP30 begins, it remains to be seen just how Brazil’s climate contradictions will be reflected in negotiations. True to form, the Brazilian president seems to have carefully sidestepped the awkward issue of fossil fuels for the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lula has already made it clear that protecting forests will take pride of place in COP30. He has said he hopes that one of the summit\u2019s major advances will be the adoption of the Tropical Forest Forever Facilities<\/a>, a new financial mechanism that would compensate countries for preserving their tropical forests \u2013 and which advocates say is as a much-needed weapon in the bitter fight against deforestation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article has been adapted from the original in French.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva\u2019s much-vaunted ambitions to lead the fight against climate change and the deforestation that has ravaged the Amazon, Lula continues to look to the country\u2019s oil industry to build Brazil\u2019s wealth. He argues that the money generated from oil exports will help finance… Continue reading ![\"Un](\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/35d97778-baa4-11f0-9f41-005056a97e36\/w:1280\/p:16x9\/AP25308776465579.jpg\")
Black gold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Up in smoke<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Global](\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/f63ff818-bb15-11f0-82c4-005056bfb2b6\/w:1280\/p:16x9\/EN-20251106-131023-131604-CS.jpg\")
Saving the forests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A president \u2018bound hand and foot\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n