While the world gathered in Dubai was trying against the clock to find a consensus position to implement a strategy to fight climate change, Brazil has broken the deck.
The president, Lula da Silva, has confirmed that the country will join the cartel of oil exporting countries (OPEC) as an observer. A decision that has raised criticism from the opposition and environmental movements, who do not understand the Brazilian decision to approach the states that produce fossil fuels just now that their gradual abandonment or reduction is being considered.
In the last six months, after a turnaround from the previous policies of the previous president Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil has reduced deforestation by 22%. But the Brazilian State, in addition to having the largest freshwater and forest reserves on the planet, is also the ninth largest oil producer in the world and the largest on the South American continent, with 3.7 million barrels per day. A difficult balance to maintain.
Marina Silva, the current Minister of the Environment of Brazil, is a convinced environmentalist and defender of the rights of the tribes of the Amazon. In Dubai she declared that “it is imperative to eliminate, as quickly as possible, the dependence of our economies on fossil fuels.” “Brazil says one thing, but does another at COP28. It is unacceptable,” Leandro Ramos, of Greenpeace, reacted in a press release.
“I think it is important,” Lula responded to the wave of criticism, “to participate in OPEC because we must convince producing countries that they must prepare for the end of the fossil industry. And this means using the income we obtain from oil to invest in the renewables that continents such as Latin America, Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle East itself need,” he explained.
A week ago, Petrobras’ top executive, Jean Paul Paredes, announced his strategic plan: some 102 billion dollars of investments that will be allocated until 2028, 31% more than the 78 indicated in the previous five-year plan 2023-2027.
Petrobras projects the deployment of 14 new floating production, storage and discharge units in five years. For exploration, nearly 7.5 billion dollars will be allocated to the search for resources in the basins of the equatorial and southeastern margin of Brazil, some of them sensitive areas. “The fact that we have come to the conclusion that the world needs clean energy,” Paredes objected, “does not mean that we should stop extracting oil overnight. Without the benefits of oil, we cannot invest in renewables. Being ecological is a process of continuous metamorphosis.”
The Latin American giant exported an average of 1.8 million barrels of oil per day in the third quarter, an increase of 40% compared to a year earlier, according to official data. Shares of state oil company Petrobras have risen 48% this year.
