Lula jeopardizes own leadership at COP30 in dash for oil
Brazilian president ramps up pressure on environmental agency to secure license for offshore drilling in the Amazon
PRESS RELEASE
COP30 host country Brazil may be on the verge of giving the green light for massive oil expansion along its northern coast, a move that jeopardizes the leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at a critical moment for climate action.
On Wednesday, Lula ramped up pressure on Ibama, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, to license the controversial Block 59, an oil well in the Mouth of the Amazon sedimentary basin, off the coast of the Amazonian state of Amapá. He told a local radio station that “Ibama is a government organ, but looks like it is against the government”. A decision could be made as early as next Wednesday, when a ministerial meeting is scheduled that might overturn Ibama’s technical arguments against the permit.
Lula has always been in favor of oil exploration, but the offensive against Ibama intensified after the election of Amapá native Davi Alcolumbre as president of the Senate on February 1. The president assured Alcolumbre, a right-wing politician, that the permit would be granted, according to a report by the newspaper O Globo. “We want oil because it will still exist for a long time. We have to use oil to make our energy transition, which will need a lot of money,” declared Lula a week ago. A far cry from COP28, in Dubai, when he said it was time to “face the debate on the slow pace of global decarbonization and work towards an economy less dependent on fossil fuels.”
Petrobras’ request to drill Block 59 was denied by Ibama in May 2023. The company appealed, and the process is still under review. “The same Ibama that Lula criticized for denying the permit has already approved more than 2,000 offshore drilling licenses all over the country. It is also behind the drop in Amazon deforestation for which the President takes so much pride”, said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of Observatório do Clima. “There can be no double standards here.”
Nine months ahead of COP30, Brazil is doubling down on expanding oil exploration, going against its own commitment to Mission 1.5, an attempt to safeguard the Paris Agreement temperature goal. The International Energy Agency has said that no new fossil fuel projects can be licensed anywhere in the world if the temperature limit of 1.5 degree Celsius is to be upheld. The South American country, however, is on a bid to become the world’s 4th biggest oil and gas producer in the next decade, up from 8th.
This week, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has announced the auction of 332 blocks across the country for June 17, of which 47 are located in the Mouth of the Amazon basin. “The extreme political pressure for the drilling permit of Block 59 should be understood as a gateway to intense exploration in the Foz do Amazonas basin and throughout the equatorial margin. The decision about the permit for Block 59 lies solely with Ibama, but the country should be debating the government’s proposal for a large-scale expansion of oil exploration amidst the ongoing climate crisis,” said Suely Araújo, head of Public Policy at Observatório do Clima.
About the Observatório do Clima– Founded in 2002, it is the main Brazilian civil society network on the climate agenda, with 133 member organizations, including environmental NGOs, research institutes and social movements. Its goal is to help build a decarbonized, egalitarian, prosperous and sustainable Brazil, in the fight against the climate crisis. Since 2013, OC has published SEEG, the annual estimate of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil (oc.eco.br/en).
For press information, please, contact:
Solange A. Barreira – Observatório do Clima
+ 55 11 9 8108-7272
