Less than a month before COP30 in Belém, the Brazilian government, host of the UN climate negotiations, has just granted a license for exploratory oil drilling in the Amazon basin (block FZA-M-59, in Foz do Amazonas). The decision ignores scientific warnings, international commitments, and, above all, the voices of the peoples and communities who have lived in and protected the Amazon for centuries.

Authorising oil drilling in the Amazon not only threatens critical ecosystems but also repeats the same logic that has brought us to the brink of climate collapse.

“Authorising new oil licences in the Amazon is not just a historic mistake — it’s doubling down on a model that has already failed. The history of oil in Brazil shows this clearly: huge profits for a few, and inequality, destruction, and violence for local populations. Brazil must take real climate leadership and break the cycle of extraction that has led us to the current climate crisis. We urgently need a just energy transition plan, based on renewables, that respects  Indigenous, quilombola, and riverside peoples and guarantees them a leading role in decisions about climate and energy – including at COP30,” says Ilan Zugman, Latin America  and Caribbean Director at 350.org.

350.org calls on people, social movements, scientists, political leaders, and all sectors committed to  climate justice to unite in reversing this decision and pressuring the Brazilian government – and governments worldwide. We must demand not only the cancellation of this and future oil exploration projects in the Amazon, but also the collective construction of an energy transition plan that:

• Respects Indigenous, quilombola, and riverside territories;
• Ensures these communities play a leading role in energy and climate decision-making;
• Prioritises clean, decentralised energy built for people’s well-being, not for the profit of a few.

Brazil has the chance to choose a different path: a future of clean energy, decided with the people of the Amazon, not imposed upon them. The time to act is now. We must draw a clear line: for the planet, for the people, for the future. Brazil must choose life and climate justice – not profit and destruction.

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