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Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva, has urged every country to demonstrate the bravery needed to confront the imperative of a global fossil fuel phaseout, labeling the creation of a roadmap as an “moral” response to the climate crisis.

The minister emphasized, however, that involvement in this endeavor would be voluntary and “independently decided” for interested nations.

The topic stands as one of the most debated subjects at the COP30 in the host country, with nations divided over if and how such a roadmap can be discussed. As the host, the nation has maintained a balanced position on which items can be included on the formal agenda.

The official expressed approval for the possibility of a roadmap, though not directly committing Brazil to it. The minister stated: “In times we have a situation that is quite grim, it is good that we have a guide. But the map does not compel us to travel, or to climb.”

Speaking further, the minister noted: “The roadmap is an response to our scientific understanding [of the climate emergency]. It is an ethical answer.”

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

That commitment had no a timetable or specifics on the way it could be achieved, and even though it was passed by all, several countries have since attempted to back away from the pledge. Efforts last year to elaborate on its real-world implications were stymied by opposition from oil-dependent nations at COP29.

Consequently, there was no reference of the shift away from fossil fuels in the outcome of COP29.

For these reasons, the host has been wary of calls by certain countries to include the phaseout on the schedule for COP30. But Silva has strived in private to make sure the pledge could be talked about at the summit outside the official program.

She convinced Brazil’s leader, and he gave public reference repeatedly to the need to “move away from reliance on fossil fuels” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded the conference, and at the start of the summit.

“The issue is something that we know at some point had to be raised, because it is the only way to address the issue from the root,” the minister said. “We acknowledge that it is challenging, and we cannot offer unrealistic expectations. Raising the topic is courageous, and I wish [to see] this courage from all, from producers and consumers.”

Brazil had not initiated the call for a transition, she clarified, because that had been done at COP28. Rather, it was enabling the discussions to take place in accordance with what certain countries wished. “We know these subjects are delicate. We will provide the opportunity to talk about it,” the minister added.

Time is insufficient at COP30 to create a roadmap, a process Silva said could take several years because numerous nations confronted complex challenges around dependence on carbon-based energy, or aimed to use the revenue from selling fossil fuels to fund their economic growth.

“Brazil raises the subject, because it is simultaneously a producing nation and user,” she noted. “But Brazil is unique, because Brazil, if it chooses to, need not depend on fossil fuels. We have to recognise that there are some that rely on carbon energy in their economic systems and lack simple solutions, and some where fossil fuels are the foundation of their economy.

“To be just is to be just to everyone, but the fundamental, primordial fairness is not being unjust to the planet, because it is our shared home.”

If the pledge receives sufficient support, COP30 could set up a forum in which the process of drawing up a strategy to the transition could begin.

This endeavor would require discussions with all participating countries to the UN framework convention on climate change and criteria for how the process would proceed, the minister said. “Once we have criteria, a governance structure can be drawn up; once we have a strategy, and create protections to be able to establish trust in the system, I believe that with these components we can turn good ideas into actions that are more defined, and more concrete.”

There is no guarantee that a proposal to start drawing up a plan would be accepted at the conference, even if it does not require the official consent of the conference, which proceeds by unanimous agreement and can be disrupted by special interests. Climate experts have indicated they believe there could be support for such a idea from about 60 countries, but there are thought to be at least forty opposed. There are one hundred ninety-five countries represented at the negotiations.

“Despite being the primary source of climate change, carbon-based energy are about the most divisive topic there is within the international climate talks, so to see a sizable group of nations openly backing a route to achieving global phaseout is in itself highly significant.”

“In simple terms, there’s no route to a planet where temperature rise stays below 1.5C in which nations aren’t able to talk about fossil fuel phaseout.”

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

Discussions continued on the weekend on four unresolved topics that have not yet been included into the formal schedule: trade, openness, finance and how to address the gap between the emissions cuts countries have proposed and those needed to keep to the 1.5-degree warming limit.

A summit chair promised a “document” that would address these issues, after discussions – which have been going on since Monday – were inconclusive. The official called on nations to adopt the “mutirão” attitude, referring to one of collaboration and constructive discussion.

Work on other substantive topics – such as adaptation to the effects of the climate emergency, the fair shift for those impacted by the move to a low-carbon economic system and how to build institutional capacity in less developed nations – carried on productively, the host reported.

The host nation's lead representative stated the detailed phase of the summit process was nearing completion, and the high-level phase – when government leaders who have the power to alter their nations' stances join – was beginning.