Belém, Brazil, Nov. 4, 2025 (Lusa) - Brazilian President Lula da Silva refused on Tuesday to take on the role of environmental leader saying it would be inconsistent for him to prevent oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon.
Two days before the leaders' summit that precedes the United Nations Climate Conference (COP30) in the Amazonian city of Belém, the Brazilian head of state, during an interview with six international agencies, questioned by the Lusa news agency, said: "I don't want to be an environmental leader. That's not what I want".
"It would be incoherent if I, in an act of irresponsibility, said: Well, we're not going to use any more oil," he said, referring to the authorisation given to state-owned Petrobras to prospect for oil off the Amazon.
Also in response to Lusa, Lula da Silva emphasised that the world is not yet capable of abandoning fossil fuels and that few countries are closer to achieving this than Brazil.
"There are a lot of people who say" that oil should not be exploited, "but that's incoherent if you don't present an alternative," he emphasised.
"I run out of oil, and what am I going to use it for? I have a responsibility. So, as head of state, I have to be responsible," he said.
"Let's test it to see what we have. And then we'll know how we're going to exploit it with the care we have to take with our Amazon," he said, adding that if he were "a false and lying leader" he would wait until the end of COP30 (which runs from 10 to 21 November in Belém) to give the go-ahead for oil prospecting.
"But if I did that, I would be being small in the face of the importance of what it means to do a test on the equatorial margin," he insisted.
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, the need for countries to move away from fossil fuels—the main contributors to climate change—was first mentioned, but the reference disappeared at the following summit.
The Brazilian government wants to present itself in Belém as a leader in the climate agenda, thanks to the fight against deforestation in the Amazon. Still, several non-governmental organisations have criticised the continued commitment to oil extraction in an area as sensitive as the Amazon coast and have filed a lawsuit in Brazilian courts to annul Petrobras' oil exploration licence in an area near the mouth of the Amazon River.
The eight organisations that filed the lawsuit - including Greenpeace, WWF and Brazil's main indigenous organisation - asked a federal court for a precautionary suspension of the drilling, which Petrobras began immediately after obtaining permission to explore for crude reserves in October.
The Brazilian authorities said that at a pre-meeting of leaders ahead of the UN event, scheduled for 6 and 7 November, around 60 heads of state and government are expected to attend, including the prime minister, Luís Montenegro.
Three days later, the negotiating phase of the climate summit will open in Belém, to which delegations from around 170 countries are accredited.
Around 50,000 people, including members of official delegations, non-governmental organisations, and representatives of the private sector, are expected to take part in these discussions, which will initially run from 10 to 21 November.
MIM/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
