Food & Climate
While the forests of the Amazon are fundamental to global climate regulation, they face growing pressure from extractive industries – especially fossil fuels. As COP30 approaches, this tug-of-war between preservation and exploitation is becoming increasingly clear.
“The Amazon is a geopolitical asset for the region,” says Joubert Marques, climate and geosciences analyst at the Arayara International Institute, an organisation monitoring oil, gas and mining projects in the Amazon.
“When it is strategic – especially in the search for financing – governments adopt a pro-conservation discourse. But this discourse seems to disappear when it comes to oil and gas”, according a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has consistently reiterated the government’s intention to explore for oil in the waters of the country’s so-called “equatorial margin”.
This new frontier includes the offshore Foz do Amazonas basin, a sensitive area where the Amazon River meets the sea, which harbours little-explored coastal ecosystems – not to mention the immense biodiversity of the land adjacent to the shore.
On 20 October, amid intense political pressure, Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama granted a licence for state oil firm Petrobras to begin the exploratory drilling in this contentious area, which should start “immediately,” according to the company.
Brazil’s fuel exploration regulator decision before COP30
A month before the start of COP30, Brazil’s fuel exploration regulator, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), had announced the inclusion of 275 new oil and gas blocks in an auction scheduled for 2026.
The decision brought the total number of areas under permanent offer since June to 451. According to the Arayara Institute, some of these overlap with Indigenous territories and conservation units.
At the same time, Brazil’s delegation will showcase two ambitious measures at the Belém conference: the Open Coalition for Carbon Market Integration and the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF).
Both are designed to establish the value of standing forest, thus turning conservation into an income opportunity.
The coalition’s proposal takes into account that more than 70% of Brazil’s carbon credit projects are in the Amazon. The revenue from their sale could potentially reach $ 21.6 billion by 2030. The TFFF – the Brazilian government’s pride and joy for COP30 – proposes an enhanced model of financing for forests which, instead of only rewarding countries for reductions in deforestation, provides payments for the ongoing preservation of forested areas.
At the United Nations General Assembly in September, the Brazilian government announced a contribution of $1 billion to the fund. A total of $ 125 billion is expected from other sources.
800 legislators singe open letter calling for a fossil fuel-free future
On the eve of COP30, pressure is also growing from some parliamentarians in Amazonian countries to end fossil fuels. On 8 October, representatives from six South American nations delivered a report to the Brazilian government on the “profound” damage caused by five decades of industry in the Amazon. Meanwhile, nearly 800 legislators have signed an open letter calling for a fossil fuel-free future for the region.
Among the proposals, presented by the multinational coalition Parliamentarians for a Fossil Fuel-Free Future, is the creation of a joint moratorium on the expansion of mining and fossil fuel extraction throughout the Amazon biome. The measure has regional support, but so far only five countries – Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil – have presented bills on the subject in their respective parliaments.
In Colombia, President Gustavo Petro vetoed the signing of new oil and gas exploration contracts in 2023, maintaining only those contracts already in force. The decision marked a turning point in the country’s energy policy, but the future is uncertain: Petro cannot run for re-election in 2026, as per the constitution, and Colombia’s fragmented political landscape could unravel his legacy.
Juan Carlos Lozada, a Colombian MP and member of Parliamentarians for a Fossil Fuel-Free Future, tells Dialogue Earth that while Petro’s policies already function, in practice, as a moratorium, “legal mechanisms to make them sustainable in the long term” are needed. Despite political resistance, Lozada believes Colombia can move forward with this agenda: “In Colombia, we could reach an agreement to ban future exploration, at least in the Amazon.”
Meanwhile, exploration continues to gain momentum: between 2022 and 2024, the region accounted for about 20% of oil reserve discoveries worldwide. This has consolidated its position as one of the primary frontiers for expansion. As a result, Amazonian governments continue to promote these sectors.
In August, President Lula partially vetoed a legal proposal dubbed the “Devastation Bill” by its opponents, blocking some of its most controversial provisions. The rest of the bill is now law and has loosened Brazil’s environmental licensing requirements; a key clause that accelerates the approval of projects considered to be strategic – even those with large environmental impacts – remains in place. According to the Arayara Institute, more than 2,600 fossil fuel projects could benefit from the law.