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

The minister emphasized, though, that participation in this process would be optional and “self-determined” for interested governments.

The topic remains one of the most debated matters at the COP30 in the host country, with countries split over whether and how such a strategy can be discussed. Hosting the event, the nation has maintained a balanced stance on which items can be included on the formal schedule.

Silva expressed approval for the potential of a plan, without explicitly committing Brazil to it. She stated: “In times we have a situation that is very challenging, it is helpful that we have a map. But the guide does not compel us to travel, or to advance.”

Speaking further, she added: “The map is an response to our scientific understanding [of the climate crisis]. It is an moral answer.”

Dozens of countries gathered in Belém for the global climate conference, which is entering its next phase, are aiming to determine how a worldwide phaseout of oil, gas, and coal could work. These nations aim to advance a landmark agreement made two years ago at COP28 to “transition away from fossil fuels.”

That commitment lacked a timetable or specifics on how it could be achieved, and even though it was passed unanimously, several nations have later attempted to back away from the promise. Efforts last year to elaborate on its practical implications were stymied by resistance from petrostates at COP29.

As a result, there was no reference of the shift away from fossil fuels in the outcome of that conference.

For these reasons, the host has been wary of calls by certain countries to place the phaseout on the schedule for COP30. But the minister has worked hard in private to ensure the pledge could be discussed at the conference apart from the official agenda.

She convinced Brazil’s president, who made public reference three times to the need to “move away from reliance on traditional energy” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded the conference, and at the start of the event.

“This is a matter that we know at some point had to be put forward, because it is the only way to face the issue from the root,” the minister explained. “We acknowledge that it is challenging, and we must not offer false hopes. Raising the subject is brave, and I hope [to see] this courage from all, from producers and consumers.”

The nation had not initiated the call for a phaseout, the minister said, because that had been initiated at COP28. Rather, it was allowing the discussions to take place in accordance with what some countries desired. “We understand these topics are sensitive. We will provide the chance to discuss it,” the minister said.

Time is insufficient at the summit to create a roadmap, a task Silva called could take several years because many nations confronted complex issues around dependence on carbon-based energy, or aimed to use the revenue from exporting oil and gas to fund their development.

“The country raises the subject, because Brazil is simultaneously a producing nation and consumer,” she said. “But the nation is different, because it, if it wants to, need not depend on non-renewables. We have to recognise that there are some that depend on carbon energy in their economies and don’t have easy alternatives, and others where oil and gas are the foundation of their economy.

“To be fair is to be just to all, but the fundamental, basic fairness is to avoid being unfair to the planet, because it is our shared home.”

If the proposal gains sufficient support, COP30 could set up a platform in which the process of creating a strategy to the phaseout could start.

This process would require dialogue with every participating nations to the UN climate treaty and criteria for how the initiative would proceed, the minister said. “Once we have standards, a management framework can be drawn up; once we have a strategy, and establish safeguards to be able to build confidence in the process, I am confident that with these components we can turn good ideas into actions that are more defined, and more concrete.”

It is uncertain that a proposal to begin drawing up a plan would be accepted at the conference, even if it may not need the official approval of the summit, which proceeds by consensus and can be hijacked by special interests. Climate analysts have indicated they believe there could be support for such a idea from about 60 nations, but there are believed to be at least forty opposed. A total of 195 countries represented at the negotiations.

“In spite of being the primary source of climate change, fossil fuels are about the most divisive subject there is within the UN negotiations, so to see a sizable coalition of nations openly backing a route to realizing worldwide transition is in itself pretty groundbreaking.”

“Put simply, there’s no route to a world where temperature rise stays below 1.5 degrees in which countries aren’t able to talk about ending fossil fuel use.”

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

Discussions carried on on the weekend on several unresolved issues that have not yet been incorporated into the formal agenda: commerce, openness, funding and how to tackle the gap between the emissions cuts countries have planned and those needed to keep to the 1.5-degree temperature limit.

The COP30 chair pledged a “note” that would address these matters, after discussions – which have been going on since Monday – were unresolved. He urged nations to embrace the “mutirão” attitude, meaning one of cooperation and positive discussion.

Progress on additional key issues – such as adjustment to the effects of the climate emergency, the just transition for those affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and how to strengthen institutional capacity in less developed nations – carried on productively, the host reported.

The host nation's chief negotiator said the detailed phase of the COP process was approaching completion, and the high-level stage – when government leaders who have the authority to alter their nations' stances arrive – was starting.