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

The minister stressed, though, that involvement in this process would be optional and “self-determined” for interested nations.

The topic stands as one of the most contentious subjects at the COP30 in the host country, with countries divided over whether and how such a strategy can be discussed. As the host, the nation has maintained a balanced stance on which items can be placed on the official schedule.

The official voiced approval for the possibility of a plan, without explicitly committing Brazil to it. She remarked: “In times we have a situation that is very challenging, it is good that we have a map. But the guide does not force us to proceed, or to climb.”

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

Dozens of nations gathered in the host city for the global climate conference, which is starting its next phase, are seeking to determine how a global phaseout of fossil fuels could work. These nations aim to advance a landmark agreement reached two years ago at COP28 to “transition away from non-renewable energy sources.”

That pledge lacked a timetable or specifics on the way it could be achieved, and even though it was adopted unanimously, several countries have later tried to disavow the pledge. Attempts last year to expand on its real-world meaning were stymied by opposition from oil-dependent nations at another UN summit.

As a result, there was no reference of the shift away from carbon fuels in the outcome of COP29.

Because of this, Brazil has been wary of demands by some countries to include the phaseout on the schedule for COP30. But Silva has worked hard in private to ensure the topic could be discussed at the summit apart from the formal program.

The minister convinced the nation's leader, and he made public reference repeatedly to the need to “shift from reliance on traditional energy” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded the conference, and at the start of the event.

“This is something that we understand at a certain time had to be raised, because it is the sole way to face the issue from the root,” Marina Silva said. “We acknowledge that it is not easy, and we must not offer false hopes. Raising the topic is brave, and I hope [to see] this courage from all, from producing nations and using countries.”

The nation had not initiated the push for a phaseout, she clarified, because that had been initiated at COP28. Instead, it was enabling the talks to occur in accordance with what some countries desired. “We know these topics are sensitive. We will provide the opportunity to discuss it,” she said.

Time is insufficient at the summit to draw up a detailed plan, a task Silva said could take a number of years because many countries confronted complex challenges around reliance on fossil fuels, or wanted to use the revenue from selling oil and gas to fund their economic growth.

“Brazil raises the topic, because Brazil is both a producer and consumer,” she said. “But the nation is different, because Brazil, if it chooses to, does not have to depend on fossil fuels. We have to recognise that there are certain nations that depend on fossil fuels in their economies and lack easy solutions, and others where oil and gas are the basis of their economy.

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

If the proposal gains enough backing, the summit could set up a forum in which the work of creating a roadmap to the transition could start.

The endeavor would require discussions with all signatory nations to the UN framework convention on climate change and guidelines for how the initiative would proceed, Silva explained. “After we have standards, a management framework can be drawn up; after we have a plan, and establish protections to be able to establish trust in the system, I believe that with these components we can turn good ideas into steps that are more defined, and more tangible.”

There is no guarantee that a suggestion to start drawing up a roadmap would win approval at the conference, although it does not require the official consent of the conference, which proceeds by unanimous agreement and can be hijacked by special interests. COP analysts have suggested they believe there could be backing for such a idea from about 60 countries, but there are thought to be at least forty opposed. There are one hundred ninety-five nations represented at the negotiations.

“In spite of being the root cause of global warming, fossil fuels are about the most divisive subject there is within the international climate talks, so to see a sizable coalition of nations publicly backing a path to realizing worldwide transition is in itself highly significant.”

“Put simply, there’s no path to a world where warming stays below 1.5 degrees in which nations aren’t able to discuss ending fossil fuel use.”

“We need this wording for real in this discussion. It’s quite stupid that we discuss everything but then when fossil fuels are the real challenge.”

Negotiations carried on on the weekend on several outstanding topics that have still not been included into the formal agenda: trade, transparency, funding and how to tackle the shortfall between the emissions cuts nations have planned and those needed to keep to the 1.5-degree warming target.

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

Work on additional key issues – including adjustment to the impacts of the climate emergency, the just transition for those affected by the move to a green economic system and how to build governance capabilities in developing countries – carried on constructively, the host said.

Brazil’s chief negotiator stated the technical part of the summit process was approaching completion, and the political phase – when ministers who have the power to change their nations' positions join – was beginning.