By Bibiana Alcântara Garrido*
In an article published in the newspaper O Globo on Saturday, 6, IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) defends economic compensation for Amapá and Pará to stop moving forward with oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon basin.
“What could a country gain if it decides not to explore for oil anymore?” ask André Guimarães, the institution’s executive director, and Paulo Moutinho, a senior researcher. The idea is for the states to benefit economically from the creation of a fund, which would cover the gain from fossil fuels with “green royalties”.
The trust fund, the authors explain, could receive contributions from the National Treasury and from external sources, even international ones.
The production and burning of fossil fuels is still growing in other countries, such as the United States, but Brazil does not necessarily depend on this matrix to continue developing. On the contrary: the biggest source of energy for Brazilians is already renewable.
According to IPAM’s position, it is precisely by putting the brakes on fossil exploitation, with investment in economic compensation, that the country would leverage its position in the global energy transition necessary for the continuity of life on Earth.
“As scientists and scholars of the planet’s climate and of the Amazon, we are against any initiatives that generate more carbon emissions,” says an excerpt from the text.
Brazil has pledged to reduce emissions of gases that overheat the atmosphere by 48% by 2025, and by 53% by 2030. In 2022, the country emitted 2.3 billion tons of carbon equivalent – a measure that equates the effects of various greenhouse gases, such as methane, with those of carbon dioxide.
Guimarães and Moutinho emphasize that, given the country’s climate goals, remunerating states for not exploiting inputs that are harmful to the planet’s balance would help “get the countless letters of intent for the climate off the ground”.
*IPAM science journalist, bibiana.garrido@ipam.org.br
Cover photo: the mouth of the Amazon River from the Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite (Image: SpaceToday)
