18. 11. 2025
AUTHOR: Anne-Sophie Cerisola
This text was originally published by Backchannel.
One of the main stories of COP30 is the collective movement to have Parties decide in favor of collective “roadmaps” on deforestation and transitioning away from fossil fuels. Until 10 days ago, nobody would have bet on having these two topics in the negotiated outcome, even if deforestation and fossil fuels are the undisputed main drivers of climate change.
Most people engaged in these issues had taken to heart Brazil’s invitation to focus on the implementation of agreed decisions and showcase progress in the “action agenda” space, meaning outside of the negotiation rooms. Beyond Oil and Gas (BOGA), a multi stakeholders initiative launched in 2021 to provide concrete support for countries launching their energy transition or PPCA (Powering Past Coal Alliance), another initiative launched in 2017 and focused on coal exit, had been working hard at showcasing in the “blue zone” of COP30 the very concrete and tangible results of their hard work with countries like the Republic of Korea for PPCA, or Colombia for BOGA.
One speech later, everything had changed.
That speech was the one delivered by President Lula at the opening of the Leaders Summit on 6 November where the President of Brazil told his colleagues that he expected COP30 to be the COP of truth, of implementation, and a show of the strength of multilateralism and international cooperation.
And then he said: “Accelerating the energy transition and protecting nature are the two most effective ways to contain global warming. I am convinced that, despite our difficulties and contradictions, we need roadmaps to reverse deforestation, overcome dependence on fossil fuels, and mobilise the necessary resources for these objectives — all in a fair and planned way.”
That the President of Brazil had decided to throw his considerable international political weight behind this call to get these “roadmaps” took almost everyone by surprise as most delegates had understood that Brazil would focus the negotiations on the mandated items, starting with the urgent need to provide finance and support to adaptation.
One person was not surprised, and she was sitting right behind President Lula: it was Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, who had been quietly working behind the scene to encourage governments and civil society members not to give up on the fight against deforestation and the transition away from fossil fuels.
Marina Silva is of course no stranger to these issues. Her entire life has been shaped by them. A native of the Amazonian state of Acre, she spent her entire youth making rubber, hunting, and fishing to help her father support their large family. She went on to found the independent trade union movement with legendary rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes in the state of Acre and in the early 1980s, Silva became, with Mendes, one of the architects of the empates—peaceful demonstrations by forest-dwelling rubber tappers against deforestation and the expulsion of indigenous communities from their traditional holdings.
Now Minister, a position she previously held from 2003 to 2008 during President Lula’s first term in office, Marina Silva remains true not only to the fights that she has led her entire life but also to her core political principles, many of them shaped by her religious belief: the defense of the dignity of humans, starting with Amazonian indigenous peoples, the protection of nature and the need for more justice.
For COP30, Marina Silva conceived and led the ethical global stocktake, a global and ethical dialogue on the climate crisis, bringing together social, cultural, spiritual, business, scientific, and political leaders through six intercontinental dialogues, as well as independent, society-led events.
Again, this initiative says a lot about the very specific space occupied by Marina Silva. At a time when most defenders of the Paris Agreement and of climate action prefer to insist on the economic and financial opportunities and benefits of climate action, the new industrial revolution and the need to protect vulnerable populations – all very valid arguments – Minister Silva chose to focus on an issue many public advocates of climate action now prefer to sidestep as “less effective”: the moral and ethical dimension of environmental action.
As Minister Silva then said: “We already possess virtually all the technical solutions for climate change, biodiversity loss, and even pressing social issues. What is needed is the ethical commitment to apply our technical capabilities and accelerate our political decisions, ensuring we fulfill what we’ve already committed to.”
For Minister Silva, the fight against deforestation and fossil fuels is a lifelong political, ethical and very personal one. And it is this very fight that President Lula chose to endorse on 6 November, recognizing that the Amazonian COP could not stay silent on these issues.
It is now up to the Brazilian COP presidency mighty duo, André do Lago and Ana Toni, supported by the many governments who have also committed not to stay silent on these issues, to ensure that the fight against deforestation and fossil fuels dependency are part of the Belém Pact, as championed by Marina Silva whose singular story has made her the “inner light” of this climate conference.
