Brazil Lacks a Clear Plan for Energy Transition

Brazil lacks planning and goals to phase out fossil fuels, responsible for global warming and the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the countrydeforestation and agriculture being the first. The Lula government (PT) committed to the UN to zero emissions by 2050, and Minister Alexandre Silveira (Ministry of Mines and Energy) said that oil will still be important for the next 20 to 30 years, but the country has not set intermediate deadlines for reducing the use of these energy sources. Furthermore, the plan to guide actions to combat the climate crisis has never been updated. Launched in 2008, it foresaw actions until 2017. "Our policy is not one of energy transition. It is still, mainly until 2030, an expansion of these fuels," says Natalie Unterstell, from the Talanoa Institute. Currently, Brazil is the eighth-largest oil producer in the world, and there is a forecast of a 63% increase between 2022 and 2030. In a statement, the Ministry of Mines and Energy says that the climate policy will be detailed in a future plan and that the energy transition "is not a process of rupture".