‘People are desperate for new climate leadership,’ says representative of the NGO Climate Rights International

What does the international community expect from the first Amazon COP chaired by Brazil?

There’s a lot of uncertainty about what to expect. The last few COPs failed to deliver meaningful breakthroughs. And now the United States—the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases—has pulled out of the Paris Agreement. Its president calls climate change a “con job,” and his administration is actively sabotaging efforts to reduce emissions. In this context, many people are eager—even desperate—for new leadership on climate. And many are hoping Brazil can help provide it.

Is Brazil seen abroad as a solid leader in environmental matters? 

Yes and no. The Lula administration includes people who are widely respected as leaders on environmental issues—Marina Silva, Sonia Guajajara, Joenia Wapichana, and the COP30 leadership of André Corrêa do Lago and Ana Toni. But its record has been quite mixed, with advances in some areas and contradictions in others.  

In terms of combating deforestation, do you believe Brazil improved its performance under the Lula administration?

Absolutely. Figures just released by INPE show deforestation at its lowest level in eleven years—a tremendous accomplishment and a credit to the Lula administration. But unfortunately, there’s just no time to celebrate. Forests are still being cleared at an alarming rate. As one top official told me: “We inherited a train speeding toward a cliff. We’ve slowed the train. But we’re still speeding toward the cliff.”  

What shortcomings are still observed?

One of the most glaring is the failure to tackle cattle-driven deforestation. Climate Rights International recently released a report showing how ranchers who clear forests illegally—often using forced labor—sell cattle into the supply chains of Brazil’s largest meatpackers. Everyone knows this is a major driver of deforestation, and companies keep promising to fix it. But these promises aren’t credible. The slaughterhouses can and must do more to vet their suppliers. But they don’t have access to the data needed to fully trace all the cattle they buy. Only the government has it.  

So what should the government do?

Create a mechanism using official data to flag when supply chains are linked to deforestation, forced labor, or other violations. States such as Pará and Minas Gerais are already doing this. But to save the country’s forests, it needs to be done at the national level.  

Why haven’t they done it?   

Good question for the Lula administration, and one it should be ready to answer in Belém. There’s considerable support for this idea within the cattle industry. But there’s also resistance, especially among producers. That resistance is misguided, I think, since greater transparency would only benefit the vast majority of law-abiding ranchers. Right now, they face unfair competition from those who commit environmental crimes and human rights abuses—lowering costs for themselves while raising regulatory risks for the whole sector. And the ecological consequences of continued deforestation—more frequent droughts, accelerated global heating—should be a concern for everyone in Brazil’s cattle sector, from the ranchers to the buyers who depend on the long-term sustainability of their supply chains.

What is Climate Rights International’s opinion of the government’s decision to grant Petrobras a license to drill an exploratory well in the Foz do Amazonas Basin?

Not good. In the long term, it will undermine Brazil’s efforts to meet its climate goals. And in the immediate term, it will weaken Brazil’s credibility as a climate leader—and its ability at COP30 to rally governments to reduce emissions.  

How will you judge whether the Brazilian COP is a success? 

The most important measure will be whether governments make meaningful commitments on the issues that Brazil is championing—including the TFFF mechanism to fund forest conservation and stronger adaptation policies to protect populations most vulnerable to climate impacts. 

But COPs aren’t only about governments, and Brazil’s leadership isn’t only about the Lula administration. Brazil has some of the most dynamic environmental groups in the world, and they’ll play a critical role in Belém—as will Indigenous leaders whose communities are essential to forest conservation. Together, they’ll be convening experts and advocates to debate and advance stronger climate policies. Among the participants will be advocates leading legal efforts to compel more ambitious climate action by governments and corporations. Those efforts received a major boost this year from landmark rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice, which made clear that countries are legally bound to take urgent measures to cut emissions and protect vulnerable communities.

In short, whatever happens at the governmental level, one thing is certain: in Belém the world will see that—despite setbacks in Washington and missteps in Brasília—the global movement to save the planet remains a force to be reckoned with.