It has been dubbed the “Amazon COP”, the “COP of Implementation” and “the COP of Truth” – but the UN climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém may end up being remembered as the biofuels COP.
COP30 president Brazil – a leading producer of sugar-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel – won backing from 23 governments for a pledge to quadruple production of so-called sustainable fuels by 2030, and has set out to promote biofuels at the talks.
The production of biofuels is likely to ramp up in the coming years, with the air travel and shipping industries – as well as road transport – seeing it as a cheaper way to decarbonise than technologies based on green hydrogen.
But critics say the need for more land to grow the feedstocks used to make biofuels can increase deforestation pressure, and that land suitable for growing crops should be used for food, not fuel.
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Cian Delaney, a campaigner on energy issues at the Brussels-based Transport & Environment group, said it is “difficult to imagine a scenario where this [pledge] doesn’t require more land clearance”.
“Without any commitment from countries to meet the target without clearing more land, this will be devastating for the climate, ecosystems and food security,” he said.
Brazil has tried to allay these concerns, saying that for fuels to be considered sustainable they must have a low greenhouse gas intensity and comply with a set of criteria such as nature conservation, sustainable water management and compliance with social safeguards.
Biofuels take centre-stage at COP30
Biofuels have been prominent at the COP30 venue itself. Electricity generators at the venue and buses shuttling delegates around are running on diesel mixed with 10% biofuels, and corporate advocates of plant-based fuels such as Toyota are promoting their product.
The Japanese carmaker was present on at least 10 panels and provided a fleet of 70 hybrid vehicles powered by ethanol. Information tablets in each of the cars made the case for biofuels.
Toyota’s communications director, Roberto Braun, told one panel that electric vehicles (EVs) and biofuels are both part of the solution to tackling transport’s fossil fuel emissions, especially in developing countries without adequate charging infrastructure or widespread power access.
They also create jobs, Braun told the panel run by Brazil’s main business association (CNI).
But Greenpeace, which has previously challenged Toyota over its support for biofuels, accused the company of undermining global efforts to fight climate change by ignoring “mounting scientific consensus that biofuels are a false climate solution”.
Food vs fuel vs forests
Those opposed to biofuels say using renewable electricity and batteries – or green hydrogen made from renewable power – is the right way to cut emissions from transport.
But those options appear a remote possibility in parts of the Global South where charging points are rare and power infrastructure limited, as is the case in Brazil’s vast interior. Other developing countries like COP32 host Ethiopia have faced similar challenges to EV roll-out in rural areas.
In contrast, across Brazil, biofuels are already well-established.
According to a report prepared for the COP30 presidency by the International Energy Agency (IEA), no major country gets more of its fuel from biofuels – particularly ethanol – than Brazil.
Drivers across the country can choose between refuelling with pure ethanol or with a – usually slightly more expensive – mix of 30% ethanol and 70% gasoline. In rural areas, where pick-up trucks like Toyota’s are a ubiquitous sight, billboards advertise ethanol’s environmental benefits.
“Rich country-centric” EV focus
In the run-up to COP30, Greenpeace exchanged a series of open letters with Toyota President Koji Sato, who said the company’s strategy reflected the “differing needs and energy circumstances of customers across nations and regions”.
Taking different realities into account makes sense, said Francis X. Johnson, a scientist who was lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on climate change and land.
He told Climate Home News the focus on EVs has created a “rich country-centric” perspective.
“In the Global South, where significant populations still live in rural areas and where infrastructure and electricity are often unreliable or absent,” Johnson said, more diversified strategies involving biofuels are “highly valuable”.
Their merits vary wildly depending on the biofuel though, he warned. While sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil has been “providing emissions and development benefits for years”, soy or corn-based biofuels in Europe or North America are generally quite polluting.
As Climate Home News revealed in June, virgin palm oil from Malaysia has been passed off as used cooking oil and sold to aviation fuel suppliers in Europe, hiking deforestation and food prices in the rainforest nation.
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Felipe Barcellos from the Energy and Environment Institute (IEMA), a Brazilian think-tank, said there were “a lot of bad examples, like Indonesia and Malaysia”, adding that “this oil is very problematic”.
But, he said that while EVs are the best choice, biofuels have a place as long as proper safeguards are in place to prevent deforestation to make way for feedstock crops.
Brazil has 100 million hectares of degraded pasture, an area the size of Egypt, some of which could be brought back into productivity for crops, Barcellos said. Some could also be reforested, though reforesting all of it is not feasible, due to the high cost and need for financing.
EVs must be the priority, campaigners say
But for Greenpeace, biofuels can only be a limited, stop-gap measure on the road to an EV-only future.
Greenpeace campaigner Mariko Shiohata, who has led the campaign group’s criticism of Toyota’s progress to electrify its range, acknowledged that biofuels “will be needed on a marginal scale”. Brazil-based Greenpeace campaigner Camila Jardim said biofuels “may play a limited and temporary role in Brazil”.
But “large-scale bioenergy crops still drive land pressure, monocultures, pesticide use and social conflict, even when labelled as ‘using degraded land’,” Jardim said. In practice, expansion often displaces cattle and can indirectly fuel deforestation, she added.
In the meantime, switching to electric and reducing the number of cars on the road worldwide should be the priority, Shiohata said, suggesting Toyota could do more – for example, by making small, cheap EVs with renewable-energy charging stations. Governments should also encourage electricity access with off-grid solar panels.
“There’s no time for detours on electrification,” she said.
The post “Biofuels COP” stirs debate on how to clean up cars where EVs are tricky appeared first on Climate Home News.
“Biofuels COP” stirs debate on how to clean up cars where EVs are tricky
But a $345 million U.S. verdict against the environmental group hangs over the case.
A lawsuit filed by Greenpeace International against the U.S.-based fossil fuel company Energy Transfer in the Netherlands is moving forward after a Dutch court recently ruled in favor of the environmental organization in rejecting the company’s bid to toss out the case.
Greenpeace’s Dutch Anti-SLAPP Case Against Oil Pipeline Giant Advances
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The world has already lost more than half of its coral reefs, and most of what remains is at risk of disappearing in the next 25 years.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Bonn talks close
‘SIDE-STEPPING AND STALLING’: UN climate talks in Bonn have ended in “gridlock”, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported on the failure to balance developing countries’ need for climate-adaptation finance with “richer nations’ desire to move forward” on emissions cuts. It added that both topics were subject to “rule 16”, meaning no agreement could be reached and work will be pushed to the COP31 summit in Turkey. Inside Climate News quoted UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell, who said the talks had seen “side-stepping and stalling”.
JUST TRANSITION: One “glimmer of hope” came from negotiations on achieving a “just transition”, reported Euronews. The news outlet said negotiators “made headway on operationalising the Belém-Antalya mechanism”, intended to support people in the shift to a low-carbon economy. However, Politico concluded that much of the focus in Bonn had “shift[ed] to efforts outside diplomatic talks – raising questions about the future of global climate negotiations”.
‘ATTACKING SCIENCE’: Agence France-Presse reported on the EU, Switzerland and “dozens of developing nations” warning of “attacks on science” by a “small group of fossil-fuels interests” in Bonn. Table Briefings explained that “the 1.5C target is increasingly being challenged” and the role of the UN climate-science panel – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – in an upcoming assessment of global climate progress “remains controversial”. See Carbon Brief’s full write-up of the talks for more detail.
US-Iran deal
PRICE DROP: The US and Iran announced that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, reported Bloomberg. Oil prices have fallen, as the “long-awaited deal” began the process of “eas[ing]” the global energy crisis triggered by the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Associated Press noted that high fuel prices will “likely outlast the Iran war”.
‘OIL GLUT’: The Financial Times reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a “glut of oil” emerging next year, if the peace deal holds. The IEA said this would allow countries to build new strategic reserves, as they “review their energy strategies and policies in response to the crisis”, according to Reuters.
‘NEW ERA’: Agence France-Presse reported that oil and gas companies have “few illusions about a return to normal for the Gulf energy industry after more than three months of blockage”. One analyst told the newswire that the war “showed the oil and gas industry that Hormuz risk is no longer just a geopolitical headline”.
Around the world
- OCEAN MONITOR: The Trump administration is “abandoning its plan” to dismantle a $368m ocean monitoring system key for tracking climate change after a “bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill”, reported the New York Times.
- CORAL HAVEN: The New York Times covered preliminary research, presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, suggesting there could be three times as many “coral refugia” – where corals are relatively safe from climate change – than previously thought.
- BAD CREDIT: Down to Earth reported that the first carbon credits issued under the Paris Agreement’s new Article 6.4 mechanism are “facing scrutiny over alleged links to institutions controlled by Myanmar’s military junta”.
- OIL BACKTRACK: Reuters reported that oil-and-gas company Equinor has dropped a renewable-energy target and scaled back clean investments, while another Reuters story noted that Shell is selling off its offshore wind assets.
1.1 billion
The number of children facing “at least three overlapping climate hazards”, according to a new Unicef report covered by Agence France-Presse.
Latest climate research
- Including the “permafrost carbon-climate feedback” in climate models increases the chance of exceeding “tipping elements” – such as the Greenland ice sheets, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or Amazon rainforest – by up to 50% | Environmental Research Letters
- The intensity of influenza outbreaks could decline in temperate regions, but increase in tropical areas over the next century, as the climate warms | PNAS Nexus
- European snow cover has declined by 20% for December and January since the start of the industrial era, revealing an “unprecedented ongoing shrinkage of European winters” | Communications Earth & Environment
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The more than 2m battery electric vehicles (BEVs), 1m “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs) and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are already saving drivers a total of around £3bn a year, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This amounts to savings of more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs for each BEV driver in the UK. The analysis comes amid reports in UK media this week that the government is considering “watering down” its EV sales targets.
Spotlight
Oceans rising at UN climate talks
The state of the world’s oceans is inextricably linked to the changing climate – and many delegates at UN climate talks want to see more focus on this issue, reports Carbon Brief.
Oceans are often described as the world’s “greatest ally” against climate change – absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and most of the heat generated by those emissions.
They are also the site of important climate solutions, such as huge offshore windfarms and the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner fuels.
At the same time, the oceans themselves present a growing danger to coastal communities and sea life due to sea level rise, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.
These diverse issues have led to growing calls within the UN climate process for more focus on oceans. During climate negotiations this week in Bonn – known as SB64 – nations and civil society had a chance to air these views during an “ocean and climate change dialogue”.
‘Elevate action’
Oceans first entered UN climate outcomes in 2019, when the final COP25 negotiated text requested a new “dialogue” on “the ocean and climate change to consider how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action”.
The following years saw this dialogue established as an annual event. However, the political weight of these discussions has been limited.
COP31 is being co-led by Turkey and Australia, but with Pacific islands playing a supporting role. These small islands sometimes self-identify as “large ocean states”, stressing the ocean’s centrality in their societies.
In Bonn, figures from across the presidency threw their weight behind this issue. Chris Bowen, an Australian minister and incoming COP31 “president of negotiations”, told attendees:
“Australia, Turkey and the Pacific see an important opportunity to elevate ocean-based climate action.”
Strategies and finance
The two-day dialogue in Bonn involved a series of panels, statements and breakout groups.
One of the main topics was how oceans are integrated into national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).
Three-quarters of the latest round of NDCs mention oceans, with conservation of “blue carbon” ecosystems the most frequently described action. (Landscapes such as mangroves can both absorb CO2 and protect coastal areas.)
Delegates also discussed alignment with the UN biodiversity process, as well as ocean finance, which currently makes up less than 1% of all climate finance.
(As discussions were taking place in Bonn, country officials also gathered in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference. Carbon Brief’s associate editor Giuliana Viglione attended the conference and will publish a full summary shortly.)
Developing countries were clear that many of the ocean-related actions in their NDCs would depend on receiving more financial support.
‘Political momentum’
With the backing of the COP31 presidency, delegates were hopeful about where this year’s dialogue could lead.
Charles Hamilton, an advisor for the Bahamas who spoke for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the dialogue, told Carbon Brief that island representatives “are not traveling thousands of miles to just talk and pat ourselves on the back”. He added:
“A dialogue that just remains a dialogue is just more talk – no action.”
Given that, he said “discussions in the dialogue must move into COP decisions and the decisions must be actioned”, noting the importance of finance.
Marina Corrêa, oceans lead at WWF-Brazil, pointed to an upcoming UN climate change Standing Committee on Finance forum as a space to ramp up pressure on ocean finance.
More broadly, she wanted to see the presidencies translate their support into a “leader-level ocean initiative” that could “mainstream” oceans across negotiations.
“We have a really interesting opportunity, in terms of political momentum,” Corrêa told Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
‘HOTTER THAN HELL’: An episode of the BBC’s Rare Earth podcast titled “hotter than hell” considered the issue of extreme heat, with input from experts and “people facing up to the hottest temperatures on the planet”.
NOT BROKEN?: John Drake, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, wrote an essay for Aeon – also re-published as a Guardian “long read” – questioning the framing of ecosystems and climate systems “breaking down”.
ON COURSE: On his Volts podcast, US climate journalist David Roberts interviewed UK climate minister Katie White, quizzing her about whether the UK will “stay the course with its climate plans”.
Coming up
- 20-28 June: London climate action week
- 21 June: Colombia presidential runoff
- 24 June: UK Climate Change Committee progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to parliament
Pick of the jobs
- Mongabay, managing editor – Africa | Salary: Unknown. Location: Global
- Contexte, environment reporter – Brussels | Salary: €45,000-€60,000. Location: Brussels
- Climate 200, communications director | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia
- Energy Tracker Asia, energy transition correspondent | Salary: $3,000-$4,000 per month. Location: South-east Asia (remote)
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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