Ana Yang is Director of the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House.
In recent months, Brazil has been portrayed by the media, activists and other commentators as either angel or devil.
On the one hand, the country that houses 60% of the Amazon rainforest and an enormous wealth of biodiversity is touted as a climate champion, progressive host of the next UN climate talks, the potential saviour of multilateralism.
On the other, the fifth-largest and seventh-most populous country in the world is demonised as hypocritical for pursuing oil exploration and production, investing in agriculture as a key export industry, and – most recently – building a new road on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Belem, which will host the COP30 UN climate summit in November.
As a Brazilian working and living in London, this is a deeply familiar and frustrating story of a developing nation that cannot be trusted to act in its own interests on climate change, nor in those of the world. It is a story that holds low- and middle-income countries to different standards from rich ones, and denies them the same rights and routes to development.
Oil production supports development
Recent criticism of Brazil’s decision to join the oil producers club, OPEC+, and of President Lula’s support for a new oil project typify this gleeful tendency to attack pragmatic leadership and deny political complexity. Such criticism is not only condescending, but counterproductive and short-sighted.
By joining OPEC+ Brazil – with only 4% of global oil production and less than 2% of global trade oil – gets to be part of the club of countries that dictates oil prices. Crude oil is Brazil’s main export commodity, with China its main customer. Joining OPEC+ is a geopolitical move by a middle power designed to support commercial interests and trade diversification.
The Amazon rainforest emerges as the new global oil frontier
Of course, rapid decarbonisation is imperative if the world is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as per the Paris Agreement. But just as other countries scramble to balance climate goals against other policy objectives, including the opportunities of investment in fossil fuels, or provision of infrastructure, so too should Brazil be able to determine its own path to net zero.
Brazil, a country at the forefront of the climate crisis, whose wealth is concentrated in its abundant natural resources, knows full well the importance of a managed fossil-fuel phase-out. The climate transition and decarbonisation is owned at the highest political level. The country already generates over 90% of its electricity from renewable sources, and has per capita emissions well below the global average.
But President Lula was also elected on a promise of addressing the deep inequality, poverty, hunger and other challenges affecting the Brazilian population. Oil production and exploration contribute to the national coffers and help pay for the national health service, anti-poverty initiatives, and climate adaptation actions.
If we genuinely want to support and encourage progress, we cannot expect Brazil to forgo its biggest commodity overnight. Instead we need an approach which acknowledges that policy-making is a game of balancing competing demands.
No one-size-fits-all path to decarbonisation
Indeed, the truth is that, with three quarters of its emissions coming from deforestation and agriculture, Brazil’s decarbonisation challenge lies less in oil production and more in land use. To effect an equitable and low-carbon transition, the country will need to move away from a deforestation-based agriculture production model, cut methane from cattle herds and reduce reliance on fertiliser.
Its farmers – from large to micro producers – will need to shift to integrated land management approaches that enable the protection of nature. And the country will need to continue to expand renewable energy capabilities while ensuring benefits are shared with local communities, and invested in climate adaptation.
“Not silver bullets”: COP30 CEO downplays impact of yearly climate summits
As for the international community, supporting Brazil as COP30 host means being inclusive rather than prescriptive. It means engaging the COP30 Presidency on areas of mutual interest and bringing the private sector along. It means offering solutions for climate and nature finance, focusing on the link with inequality, and aligning net-zero target dates with Lula’s own plans. It also means rich countries keeping their promises on climate finance.
There are so many expectations around Brazil’s presidency of COP30, some unrealistic. But there are clear opportunities to make progress on climate finance, on emissions reduction targets and on nature. With the right sort of engagement from the international community and the private sector, Brazil will be able to start delivering on its climate promises, setting an example for others to follow.
At its best, COP30 could kick off a decade of action, where the economic opportunities of the energy transition are turned into reality, and the polarised narrative of growth vs. climate action is consigned to history.
To realise this potential, Brazil needs constructive partners who understand that decarbonisation is not a one-size-fits all policy. In a context of heightened geopolitical instability and competing fiscal pressures, collaboration between coalitions of the willing, characterised by mutual respect, must be at the heart of climate action in 2025 and beyond.
The post Why accusations of Brazilian hypocrisy on climate are ill-judged appeared first on Climate Home News.
Why accusations of Brazilian hypocrisy on climate are ill-judged
The American Lung Association’s annual report finds that climate change is making dirty air worse, especially for communities of color. The Trump administration keeps targeting rules meant to help.
Nearly half the nation’s children live in places with dangerous levels of air pollution, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed adding microplastics and pharmaceuticals to a list of contaminants in drinking water, but attendees still worried that the administration was prioritizing economic interests over climate and health issues.
Municipal water system leaders and nonprofits gathered in Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress as part of Water Week 2026 focused on two priorities: securing funding to update aging water infrastructure and restoring a federal program that provides grants to low-income households for paying water and wastewater bills.
The fossil fuel crisis triggered by the Iran war should push nations to speed up their shift towards clean energy and break their dependence on volatile sources, energy and climate ministers said on Tuesday.
Murat Kurum, Türkiye’s climate minister and COP31 president, said the crisis was yet another demonstration that fossil fuels cannot guarantee energy security, making it crucial for countries to diversify by investing in renewable energy.
“We know that relying solely on fossil fuels means walking towards volatility, insecurity and climate collapse,” he told fellow ministers at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, an annual gathering in Berlin that traditionally opens the global climate diplomacy calendar.
Ministers from more than 30 countries, along with United Nations representatives, are meeting until Wednesday to lay the groundwork for a deal to accelerate climate action at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
They will debate how to ramp up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, mobilise climate finance amid shrinking international aid budgets, and leverage a strained multilateral system to deliver results.
Fossil fuels not the answer
The gathering is taking place in the shadow of what some energy analysts have described as the largest oil and gas supply disruption in history. The conflict in the Middle East has sent oil and gas prices soaring, with growing ripple effects on food production and industrial manufacturing.
Australia’s escalating fuel crisis meant the country’s energy minister Chris Bowen, who will also be in charge of COP31 negotiations, cancelled his trip to the Berlin summit. Joining by videolink, he said the crisis is a “unique opportunity” to underline the message that “energy reliability, energy sovereignty and energy security are entirely in keeping with strong decarbonisation”.
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“Doubling down on fossil fuels is not the answer to this crisis,” he added. “Wind cannot be subject to a sanction, the sun cannot be interrupted by a blockade. These are all reliable forms of energy, which must be supported by storage”.
Electrification is a “megatrend”
Echoing Bowen’s remarks, Germany’s climate minister Carsten Schneider said the current crisis will be “an accelerator [of the energy transition] because it will help many people understand and realise how dependent we are on fossil fuels”.
He added that “electrification is turning into a global megatrend” but called for more discussion on how to ensure that industry and transport become less reliant on oil and gas across the world.
At last year’s climate talks, countries failed to agree to start a process to draft a global plan to shift away from oil, coal and gas. But the Brazilian COP30 presidency is taking it upon itself to deliver this roadmap before the summit in Antalya.
Discussions are expected to kick into higher gear at the first-ever conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels due to start at the end of this week in Colombia. COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago has said the roadmap should be published in September.
Clear plans needed
Addressing the Petersberg summit, the head of the United Nations António Guterres said that transition roadmaps can help countries manage urgent choices during the ongoing fuel crisis while advancing a just transition to a clean and secure energy future.
“We must respond to the energy crisis without deepening the climate crisis,” he added. “Short-term measures must not lock in long-term fossil fuel dependence and expansion”.
The ministers argued that, despite the US withdrawal from international climate diplomacy under President Trump, other countries remained committed to working together to tackle the climate crisis.
But Türkiye’s Kurum scolded the more than 40 governments that have not yet published their national climate plans, more than a year after the official UN deadline. These are mostly smaller nations, but the group of laggards also includes Vietnam, Argentina and Egypt.
“We will ensure that countries fulfil the fundamental requirements of the COP,” he said, adding that his team is working intensely with the UN to ensure these plans – known as nationally determined contributions – are submitted.
“Without diagnosis, you can’t treat”, he said.
The post Fossil fuel crisis offers chance to speed up energy transition, ministers say appeared first on Climate Home News.
Fossil fuel crisis offers chance to speed up energy transition, ministers say
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