Brazil, the next host of the crucial UN climate conference COP30 in Belém, finds itself at the center of an environmental and political controversy that calls into question its “green” ambitions. The state oil company Petrobras has in fact received authorization to start exploratory drilling off the mouth of the Amazon River, in a move strongly contested by environmental organisations.
The authorization, which arrived on October 20, 2025, marks the end of a five-year battle for Petrobras, which declared that it had “met all the requirements established by Ibama” (the environmental control body), as reported by Agence France-Press (AFP). The president of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, expressed the hope of obtaining “excellent results” and of “demonstrating the existence of oil in the Brazilian part of this new global energy frontier”.
A controversial project 500 km from the coast
The project involves the drilling of an exploratory well in Block 59, an offshore site located approximately 500 km from the mouth of the Amazon River and 160 km from the coast, at a depth of over 2,800 metres. The area, known as the Equatorial Margin, is considered a promising new oil frontier, in the wake of the large offshore discoveries made in nearby Guyana. Drilling, according to Petrobras, will begin immediately and last five months.
This project is a priority objective for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The head of state claims that increased revenues from oil will be fundamental to financing Brazil’s climate transition, a country which, despite being the eighth largest oil producer in the world, obtains about half of its energy from renewable sources.
Harsh criticism from environmentalists and the risk of biodiversity
The decision has sparked alarm from environmentalists, who see drilling in this biodiversity-rich area, near the world’s largest tropical rainforest and home to numerous indigenous communities, as a “historic mistake.”
Civil society organisations, united in the Brazilian NGO Climate Observatory, have announced that they will go to court to challenge the decision. The Observatory said the approval was based on “illegalities and technical defects” in the authorization process. In a note, they clearly expressed that “The approval sabotages the COP and goes against the climate leadership role claimed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the international stage.” They also branded the decision “disastrous from an environmental, climate and socio-biodiversity point of view”.
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Ilan Zugman, head of Latin America for the NGO 350.org, also defined exploration as a “historic mistake” and underlined the urgency of implementing a “true energy transition, based on renewable sources and which respects native populations”.
Contradictions in the authorization process
The affair has highlighted a deep rift within the institutions. In 2023, Ibama initially denied an exploration license to Petrobras, citing inadequate plans to protect wildlife in the event of an oil spill.
Political pressure increased when President Lula criticized Ibama, calling it an agency that acted as if it were “against the government.” As of February 2025, an opinion signed by 29 Ibama technical staff members, seen by AFP, still recommended “denying the environmental license”, highlighting the risk of “massive loss of biodiversity in a highly sensitive marine ecosystem”. The staff had also noted the difficulties and risks of drilling conditions in the Foz de Amazonas basin, subject to strong storms and ocean currents.
Despite this, in May, the opinion was overturned by Rodrigo Agostinho, allowing Petrobras to proceed with pre-licensing exercises. In September, Ibama approved the pre-operational environmental assessment, despite Petrobras failing to demonstrate that it can “reliably protect wildlife in the event of an oil spill.”
The final authorization therefore comes in a context of serious environmental concerns and raises doubts about the real coherence between Brazilian energy policy and the image of a global leader in the fight against climate change that President Lula wants to project in view of COP30.
