‘Loss we cannot afford’: Brazil’s Lula under fire over Amazon oil drilling

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) — Brazil's President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is facing intense backlash from environmental groups after unveiling plans to expand oil exploration within the Amazon rainforest.

The move sparked concern about the administration's commitment to its climate goals and to protect the environment, especially since Brazil is home to the largest portion of the Amazon jungle, with around 60% located within its borders.

But deforestation caused by wildfires and encroaching cattle ranching and agriculture threatens the biodiversity hotspot that is also essential to halting climate change.

The 2019-2022 administration of Lula's predecessor, far-right leader and climate change denier Jair Bolsonaro, severely hindered government efforts to combat deforestation, resulting in a 60% increase in deforestation in the Amazon during his term.

"Bolsonaro chose not to implement legislation against environmental crimes, believing it hindered Brazil's development," Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator at the Sao Paulo-based Observatorio do Clima (Climate Observatory), told Anadolu.

Lula, who took office in 2023, promising to combat climate change and protect Brazil's tropical forests, has achieved a 45% reduction in illegal deforestation in the Amazon over the past two years — the lowest level in nearly a decade, according to the country’s national space research institute, INPE.

Angelo notes that "although these numbers are important, they are not nearly enough to keep Lula's promise of zero deforestation by 2030."

- Amazon in danger

Brazil also holds the record for cutting down the most tropical forests annually, leading to massive global tropical forest loss.

“Brazil clear-cuts over 14,000 square kilometers (over 5,400 square miles) annually, equivalent to half of Belgium's area, considering both the Amazon and Cerrado regions," says Angelo.

Between Aug. 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024, more than 6,000 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest were lost, marking the lowest annual loss since 2015, yet still an area larger than the US state of Delaware.

Brazil ranks as the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, caused primarily by deforestation in the Amazon.

Further complicating climate efforts, while deforestation has nearly halved, wildfires have almost doubled due to record droughts in 2023 and 2024. According to INPE, more than 22,000 fires broke out in the Amazon between January and July 2024.

"If this continues to happen, we may lose huge portions of the Amazon forever," says Angelo, says of the rainforest, often referred to as the lungs of the world, absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide and regulating the global climate.

"Removing those trees will lead to drought conditions, drastically reducing rainfall in South America, affecting agriculture and leading to a hotter, drier world — a loss we cannot afford."

- Lula's mixed track record

With Lula's latest announcement on oil exploration, environmental activists fear Brazil is headed in the wrong direction, putting the Amazon at risk.

Brazil's left-wing president appears caught between protecting the environment and promoting investment and development in South America's biggest economy.

Despite positioning himself as a champion of the environment since taking office in 2023, he has maintained support for oil exploration.

Lula has publicly defended Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil company, in its bid to explore Block 59, an oil well in the Mouth of the Amazon sedimentary basin, located off the coast of the northern state of Amapa. The Brazilian environment agency, Ibama, denied the request in May 2023 but the company appealed and the process remains under review.

Criticizing Ibama, Lula has called it "a government agency that seems to be against the government."

Petrobras claims the oil well is situated 175 kilometers (about 110 miles) off Amapa's coast and over 500 kilometers away from the Amazon River's mouth.

But Angelo, the Climate Observatory expert, says the area faces significant environmental challenges, including the risk of oil spills harming the region's natural habitats.

"We have reefs, strong currents, and a rich biodiversity. An oil spill could hit French Guyana's coast, causing a total disaster. We want an Amazon free of fossil fuels."

He says Ibama's decisions are based on technical criteria.

“Ibama has licensed more than 2,000 oil wells in Brazil and no one has questioned them, so why is the government questioning one license now?”

- Brazil's oil dilemma

Lula suggests that new oil revenues could fund a transition to green energy. "We want oil because it will still exist for a long time. We need oil to make our energy transition, which will require significant funding," he has said.

However, activists argue that oil revenues have not and will not be directed towards the energy transition. Oil companies contribute only around 1% to 2.7% of global clean energy spending.

The world's leading energy organization emphasizes that exploiting new oil and gas fields must cease to maintain warming below the Paris Agreement limit of 2C.

Earlier this year, Brazil's government approved joining OPEC+, a group of major oil-exporting nations, aiming to become the world's fourth-largest producer of petroleum and natural gas in the next decade.

“The temperatures in Sao Paulo have reached 36C (96.8F) and Rio de Janeiro has recorded its hottest days in at least a decade with temperatures reaching 44C,” says Angelo. "More oil means accepting this is the new normal in the world."

Activists say Brazil's path forward will determine whether the Amazon remains a thriving ecosystem or becomes a casualty of climate change.