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The climate chief, the minister, has urged every country to show the courage needed to address the imperative of a worldwide fossil fuel phaseout, labeling the development of a detailed plan as an “ethical” answer to the climate crisis.

She emphasized, though, that involvement in this endeavor would be optional and “self-determined” for interested nations.

This issue stands as one of the most debated subjects at the UN climate summit in the host country, with nations split over if and in what way such a roadmap can be discussed. Hosting the event, Brazil has adopted a balanced position on which items can be placed on the official agenda.

The official expressed approval for the possibility of a plan, without directly committing Brazil to it. She remarked: “In times we have a terrain that is quite grim, it is good that we have a guide. But the guide does not force us to travel, or to climb.”

In an interview, she noted: “The map is an response to our scientific understanding [of the climate crisis]. It is an ethical answer.”

Dozens of countries gathered in the host city for the global climate conference, which is entering its second week, are aiming to establish how a worldwide transition of oil, gas, and coal could be implemented. These nations hope to advance a historic resolution reached two years ago at a previous UN summit to “transition away from fossil fuels.”

That pledge had no a schedule or specifics on the way it could be achieved, and although it was passed unanimously, some nations have later tried to disavow the promise. Efforts last year to elaborate on its practical implications were blocked by resistance from petrostates at another UN summit.

As a result, there was no reference of the shift away from fossil fuels in the final agreement of that conference.

For these reasons, Brazil has been wary of demands by certain countries to include the phaseout on the schedule for COP30. But the minister has strived in private to make sure the pledge could be discussed at the summit apart from the formal program.

She won over Brazil’s president, who gave public reference three times to the need to “shift from dependence on fossil fuels” at the global leaders' meeting that preceded COP30, and at the opening of the event.

“The issue is something that we understand at some point had to be put forward, because it is the only way to face the problem from the root,” the minister explained. “We acknowledge that it is challenging, and we cannot offer unrealistic expectations. Raising the topic is brave, and I hope [to see] this bravery from all, from producers and consumers.”

Brazil had not started the push for a phaseout, the minister clarified, because that had been done at the earlier summit. Instead, it was enabling the talks to take place in line with what some countries desired. “We know these subjects are delicate. We will provide the chance to talk about it,” she said.

There is not enough time at COP30 to draw up a roadmap, a process the minister said could take several years because many countries faced complex challenges around dependence on fossil fuels, or wanted to use the revenue from selling oil and gas to finance their economic growth.

“The country raises the subject, because Brazil is both a producing nation and consumer,” she said. “But Brazil is different, because Brazil, if it wants to, need not rely on non-renewables. We have to recognise that there are some that depend on fossil fuels in their economic systems and lack easy solutions, and others where oil and gas are the foundation of their economic structure.

“To be just is to be just to everyone, but the essential, primordial fairness is not being unjust to the planet, because it is our home.”

Should the proposal gains enough backing, the summit could set up a platform in which the work of creating a strategy to the phaseout could begin.

This process would require discussions with every signatory countries to the UN framework convention on climate change and criteria for how the process would unfold, Silva explained. “Once we have standards, a management framework can be developed; after we have a strategy, and create protections to be able to build confidence in the process, I believe that with these components we can transform good ideas into actions that are more defined, and more tangible.”

There is no guarantee that a proposal to begin drawing up a roadmap would be accepted at COP30, although it does not require the formal approval of the conference, which proceeds by consensus and can be disrupted by particular groups. COP experts have suggested they think there could be support for such a proposal from about 60 countries, but there are believed to be at least forty against. There are one hundred ninety-five countries participating at the talks.

“In spite of being the root cause of global warming, fossil fuels are about the most contentious topic there is within the international climate talks, so to see a sizable coalition of nations publicly supporting a route to realizing worldwide transition is in itself pretty groundbreaking.”

“In simple terms, there’s no path to a planet where temperature rise remains below 1.5C in which countries aren’t able to discuss fossil fuel phaseout.”

“We require this wording for actual in this discussion. It’s highly illogical that we talk about everything but that when fossil fuels are the actual challenge.”

Negotiations continued on the weekend on four unresolved topics that have still not been included into the formal schedule: commerce, transparency, funding and how to tackle the shortfall between the carbon reduction countries have planned and those required to keep to the 1.5-degree temperature limit.

A COP30 president promised a “note” that would cover these matters, after consultations – which have been underway since the start of the week – were inconclusive. He urged nations to adopt the “mutirão” spirit, meaning one of cooperation and positive discussion.

Work on other substantive issues – including adaptation to the impacts of the climate crisis, the fair shift for those impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy and how to build governance capabilities in less developed nations – carried on productively, the presidency reported.

The host nation's lead representative said the technical phase of the summit proceedings was approaching the end, and the political phase – when ministers who have the authority to alter their countries’ positions arrive – was starting.