The UN Cop 30 climate summit's presidency has opened a public call for proposals for its two roadmaps, on ending deforestation and phasing out fossil fuels.
The Cop 30 presidency pledged at the summit held in November in Brazil to create the two roadmaps and present them at Cop 31, which will be held in Turkey in November this year, after both topics failed to appear in any of the conference's final texts.
Countries and civil society members have until 31 March to answer four questions laid out by the Cop 30 presidency on the two topics:
- What are the main barriers to achieve deforestation and the fossil fuel phase-out;
- What are the political, economic and financial levers that would allow the two transitions;
- What are the examples of countries, regions or sectors that have advanced toward either goal;
- How to reflect the diversity of countries and national circumstances regarding fossil fuel dependence or the degree of forest conservation.
Those who wish to participate in the open call must send their contributions directly to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat.
The Cop 30 presidency is working on having the technical documents for the roadmaps ready by October. The fossil fuel roadmap will have seven chapters: systemic physical risks, economic and financial risks, institutional and social risks, fossil fuel demand, fossil fuel supply, an economy in transition, and a final chapter of recommendations. The layout of the deforestation roadmap is less clear.
Another important step in the drafting of the fossil fuel roadmap will be the global summit planned by Colombia and the Netherlands in April, which will be held in Colombia. Cop 30 president Andre Correa do Lago had previously said that an initial draft of the roadmap could be ready by then.
Do Lago has also tapped groups such as the International Energy Agency, Opec+ and the International Renewable Energy Agency to contribute to the roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.
The Brazilian government is also working on its own roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, but has not presented it yet. Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for a global roadmap on the topic during a global summit days prior to Cop 30, which brought much momentum to the conversation. Around 80 countries declared their support for the roadmap during Cop 30.
But phasing out fossil fuels could seem to run counter to Brazil's plans to continue to increase crude production. It produces around 4mn b/d of crude, making it one of the 10 largest producers globally, according to its hydrocarbon regulator ANP.
Furthermore, Brazil plans to expand crude output to 5.3mn b/d by 2030, according to energy research bureau Epe, hinging on new exploratory frontiers such as the southern Pelotas basin and the environmentally sensitive equatorial margin.
