At a public hearing in the Federal Senate, André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), said on Tuesday (14) that he expected “a more serious debate” on ending oil exploration. Civil Society’s Special Envoy to COP30, he stressed that the debate is still superficial.
“This House could lead a very serious debate. And it’s not just a debate about oil, whether Petrobras can drill or not, whether IBAMA is licensing revenues quickly. Is drilling and exploring for oil in Brazil in 2025 something that interests us as a nation? I’m convinced it’s not,” he said.
André Guimarães drew attention to the fact that the debate on oil exploration needs to include the impacts on food security. “For Brazil to explore for oil is to shoot itself in the foot, but a big shot. Why? More oil, more carbon in the atmosphere, more temperature, less water in the system, forest dries up, agriculture is compromised,” he said. “If we don’t pay attention to this, we’re going to have an economic problem in Brazil, because we depend on exporting agricultural commodities to be able to close the country’s accounts.”
IPAM’s executive director advocates a debate on alternatives in fuel production. “Has anyone discussed whether we can replace all of Brazil’s liquid, fossil fuels with biofuels? Has anyone looked at the bill? How many hectares will we need of sugarcane, or soybeans, or macauba, or palm oil to replace diesel and gasoline? Do we know that? No. Without knowing this, are we going to drill another oil well to produce more diesel and gasoline? So we need to talk more seriously about these issues,” he argued.
Adriana Pinheiro, advocacy advisor at the Climate Observatory, stressed that COP30 is an opportunity to debate the energy transition and the gradual move away from fossil fuels.
“We understand and advocate investing in oil production in areas that are already open, not making the problem worse and opening up new blocks. Remembering that the new openings will only produce in ten years’ time: first there’s the drilling and then the actual production. The timetable isn’t matching up, since oil demand is expected to fall. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for us to expand and continue investing in oil exploration,” he said.
The hearing was also attended by Marina Piatto, executive director of Imaflora, Willian Wills, from the Brazil Climate Center; and Robson Formica, from the National Coordination of the Movement of People Affected by Dams, and was led by Senator Leila Barros (PDT-DF), president of the Temporary Subcommittee to monitor preparations for COP30.