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Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva, has urged every country to demonstrate the courage needed to confront the necessity of a global fossil fuel phaseout, labeling the development of a roadmap as an “moral” response to the global warming emergency.

She emphasized, though, that involvement in this endeavor would be voluntary and “independently decided” for willing nations.

This issue stands as one of the most debated subjects at the UN climate summit in the host country, with countries split over whether and how such a roadmap can be discussed. Hosting the event, Brazil has maintained a balanced position on which items can be placed on the official schedule.

The official expressed support for the possibility of a plan, without explicitly pledging Brazil to it. She stated: “When we have a terrain that is very challenging, it is helpful that we have a map. But the map does not compel us to proceed, or to climb.”

In an interview, she noted: “The roadmap is an response to our scientific knowledge [of the climate crisis]. It is an moral answer.”

Dozens of nations meeting in Belém for the global climate conference, which is starting its next phase, are aiming to determine how a worldwide transition of fossil fuels could be implemented. These nations hope to advance a landmark agreement reached two years ago at COP28 to “transition away from fossil fuels.”

The pledge lacked a schedule or specifics on how it could be achieved, and although it was passed unanimously, some nations have later tried to disavow the promise. Efforts last year to elaborate on its real-world meaning were blocked by opposition from petrostates at COP29.

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

Because of this, the host has been wary of demands by some nations to place the phaseout on the agenda for the current summit. But the minister has worked hard in private to make sure the topic could be discussed at the conference outside the official agenda.

The minister convinced Brazil’s president, who made public reference three times to the need to “shift from dependence on traditional energy” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded COP30, and at the start of the summit.

“This is something that we know at some point had to be raised, because it is the only way to face the issue from the source,” the minister explained. “We acknowledge that it is not easy, and we cannot sell false hopes. Raising the subject is courageous, and I wish [to see] this courage from everyone, from producing nations and using countries.”

Brazil had not initiated the call for a phaseout, the minister clarified, because that had been done at the earlier summit. Instead, it was allowing the talks to occur in line with what some countries desired. “We understand these subjects are sensitive. We will provide the opportunity to discuss it,” she said.

There is not enough time at COP30 to create a roadmap, a process the minister called could take a number of years because many nations faced complicated issues around reliance on carbon-based energy, or aimed to use the proceeds from exporting oil and gas to finance their development.

“The country brings up the subject, because it is both a producer and consumer,” she said. “But the nation is unique, because Brazil, if it chooses to, does not have to depend on fossil fuels. We have to understand that there are certain nations that depend on carbon energy in their economies and lack easy solutions, and some where oil and gas are the foundation of their economic structure.

“To be just is to be fair to everyone, but the essential, primordial fairness is to avoid being unjust to the Earth, because it is our shared home.”

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

This endeavor would require dialogue with every participating nations to the UN framework convention on climate change and guidelines for how the process would proceed, the minister explained. “Once we have criteria, a governance structure can be drawn up; once we have a plan, and establish protections to be able to build trust in the process, I believe that with these elements we can turn good ideas into actions that are clearer, and more tangible.”

There is no guarantee that a proposal to start drawing up a plan would win approval at COP30, although it may not need the official approval of the conference, which proceeds by unanimous agreement and can be hijacked by particular groups. Climate experts have suggested they think there could be support for such a idea from about sixty nations, but there are thought to be at least forty opposed. A total of 195 nations represented at the talks.

“Despite being the root cause of climate change, carbon-based energy are about the most contentious subject there is within the international climate talks, so to see a sizable coalition of countries publicly supporting a path to realizing worldwide transition is in itself highly significant.”

“In simple terms, there’s no path to a world where temperature rise remains below 1.5C in which nations aren’t able to discuss ending fossil fuel use.”

“We require this language for real in this discussion. It’s quite stupid that we talk about everything but that when fossil fuels are the actual challenge.”

Negotiations carried on on the weekend on several outstanding topics that have not yet been incorporated into the formal agenda: commerce, openness, finance and how to tackle the shortfall between the emissions cuts nations have planned and those required to keep to the 1.5-degree temperature target.

The COP30 president promised a “note” that would cover these matters, after consultations – which have been going on since the start of the week – were inconclusive. He called on nations to adopt the “mutirão” spirit, referring to one of collaboration and constructive dialogue.

Progress on other key topics – such as adjustment to the effects of the climate crisis, the fair shift for those affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and how to build institutional capacity in developing countries – carried on constructively, the presidency said.

The host nation's chief negotiator said the technical phase of the COP process was nearing completion, and the political stage – when government leaders who have the authority to alter their countries’ stances arrive – was beginning.