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Brazil’s environment minister, the minister, has urged every country to show the courage needed to address the necessity of a worldwide fossil fuel phaseout, labeling the creation of a roadmap as an “ethical” response to the global warming emergency.

She emphasized, however, that involvement in this process would be voluntary and “independently decided” for interested nations.

The topic remains one of the most debated subjects at the COP30 in Brazil, with nations split over whether and in what way such a strategy can be addressed. As the host, Brazil has maintained a carefully neutral position on which items can be included on the formal agenda.

Silva voiced approval for the possibility of a plan, without explicitly pledging the country to it. The minister remarked: “In times we have a situation that is quite grim, it is helpful that we have a guide. But the guide does not force us to travel, or to advance.”

Speaking further, the minister noted: “The map is an response to our scientific knowledge [of the climate emergency]. It is an moral response.”

Dozens of nations gathered in Belém for the UN climate summit, which is entering its next phase, are seeking to establish how a worldwide phaseout of fossil fuels could work. They aim to advance a historic resolution made two years ago at a previous UN summit to “move away from non-renewable energy sources.”

That pledge lacked a timetable or specifics on the way it could be realized, and even though it was passed by all, several nations have since attempted to disavow the promise. Efforts last year to elaborate on its practical implications were blocked by opposition from petrostates at COP29.

As a result, there was no mention of the transition away from carbon fuels in the final agreement of COP29.

For these reasons, Brazil has been wary of calls by certain countries to include the transition on the schedule for the current summit. But Silva has strived in private to ensure the pledge could be discussed at the summit outside the official agenda.

She won over the nation's president, and he gave mention three times to the need to “shift from dependence on fossil fuels” at the summit of world leaders that came before the conference, and at the opening of the summit.

“This is something that we understand at a certain time had to be put forward, because it is the only way to address the problem from the root,” the minister said. “We recognise that it is challenging, and we cannot sell unrealistic expectations. Raising the topic is courageous, and I hope [to see] this bravery from all, from producers and consumers.”

The nation had not initiated the call for a phaseout, the minister said, because that had been done at COP28. Instead, it was allowing the talks to take place in line with what certain nations desired. “We understand these topics are delicate. We will provide the chance to talk about it,” she added.

Time is insufficient at the summit to create a roadmap, a process Silva called could take a number of years because numerous countries faced complex issues around dependence on carbon-based energy, or aimed to use the revenue from exporting fossil fuels to finance their development.

“The country brings up the subject, because it is simultaneously a producer and user,” she said. “But the nation is different, because it, if it chooses to, need not depend on fossil fuels. We have to understand that there are some that rely on fossil fuels in their economic systems and lack easy alternatives, and some where fossil fuels are the foundation of their economic structure.

“To be fair is to be just to everyone, but the essential, basic justice is not being unfair to the planet, because it is our shared home.”

Should the proposal gains sufficient support, the summit could set up a forum in which the process of drawing up a strategy to the phaseout could begin.

The endeavor would involve dialogue with all participating countries to the UN framework convention on climate change and criteria for how the initiative would proceed, the minister said. “After we have standards, a governance structure can be developed; once we have a strategy, and establish protections to be able to build trust in the system, I am confident that with these components we can turn positive concepts into actions that are more defined, and more tangible.”

There is no guarantee that a suggestion to start drawing up a roadmap would win approval at COP30, although it may not need the official consent of the conference, which proceeds by unanimous agreement and can be disrupted by special interests. COP analysts have suggested they believe there could be backing for such a proposal from about sixty countries, but there are thought to be at least forty opposed. A total of 195 nations represented at the talks.

“In spite of being the root cause of climate change, fossil fuels are about the most divisive topic there is within the international climate talks, so to see a chunky group of nations openly supporting a path to achieving global transition is in itself pretty groundbreaking.”

“Put simply, there’s no route to a planet where temperature rise remains below 1.5C in which nations cannot to discuss fossil fuel phaseout.”

“We require this wording for actual in this discussion. It’s highly illogical that we discuss everything but that when the main issue are the actual problem.”

Negotiations continued on Saturday on several unresolved issues that have not yet been included into the official schedule: commerce, transparency, funding and how to tackle the shortfall between the emissions cuts nations have proposed and those needed to hold to the 1.5-degree temperature target.

The summit president pledged a “note” that would address these issues, after consultations – which have been underway since the start of the week – were unresolved. The official called on countries to embrace the “mutirão” attitude, referring to one of collaboration and positive dialogue.

Progress on additional key issues – such as adjustment to the effects of the climate emergency, the fair shift for those affected by the move to a green economy and how to strengthen institutional capacity in developing countries – proceeded constructively, the host said.

The host nation's lead representative stated the detailed part of the COP proceedings was nearing completion, and the political stage – when government leaders who have the authority to change their countries’ positions arrive – was beginning.