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After the first week of COP30 in Brazil, the debate on the role of fossil gas in the fight against climate change reignites. Although some governments and companies present it as a “transition fuel,” scientific evidence points in another direction: gas does not pave the way to a clean future, but rather prolongs dependence on fossil fuels and delays the adoption of renewable energy.
Calling it “natural” is ironic. The fossil gas emits carbon dioxide and, above all, methane, a gas that traps heat more intensely than CO₂. Every escape of methane into the atmosphere is like an invisible blanket suffocating the planet. Its impact is not limited to the climate: it also affects the health of communities near oil fields and transport infrastructure. Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases add to the invisible costs of an energy model that insists on presenting itself as “less harmful” than coal or oil.
Under the promise of the extraction and use of fossil gas as a bridge to an orderly transition, lies the perpetuation of an extractive model that puts economies into debt, compromises public health and puts strategic ecosystems at risk. Therefore, the narrative that presents it as “natural gas” or “clean fuel” is, in reality, an exercise in greenwashing that tries to hide these impacts.
Examples abound in Latin America. In the Vaca Muerta field in Argentina, the exploitation of unconventional gas has generated social and environmental conflicts, as well as significant emissions. In Mexico, the Saguaro pipeline project has been called into question for its impact on local communities and ecosystems, affecting a whale sanctuary. And in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the routine burning of gas associated with oil extraction continues to pollute the air and impact the health of indigenous populations. These cases demonstrate that fossil gas is not a solution, but rather a transition problem in disguise. For this reason, civil society organizations have taken it to court, denouncing its impacts on human rights and the climate.
Every new investment in fossil gas moves away from commitments of net zero emissions by 2050 and contradicts both the Paris Agreement and the International Energy Agency’s roadmap, which calls for a dramatic reduction in all fossil fuels.
The recent report The money trail behind fossil fuel expansion in Latin America and the Caribbeanpublished by Urgewald together with organizations in the region, reveals the scale of planned gas investments in the region. According to the study, 19 new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals are proposed or under construction in Latin America and the Caribbean, which would generate greater dependence on fossil fuels in the region.
More than two-thirds of this expansion is concentrated in Mexico, particularly in the Gulf of California, a marine ecosystem known as the world’s aquarium for its extraordinary biodiversity. The report even warns that these megaprojects are designed not to supply the local population, but to import gas from the United States, liquefy it in Mexico and export it to Asia, leaving behind pollution, health impacts and destruction of key ecosystems.
The report also documents that more than 54,000 megawatts of new gas-fired electricity generation capacity is planned or under construction in Latin America and the Caribbean, with Brazil and Mexico accounting for 86% of that expansion. These plants, designed to operate for decades, imply another strong contradiction with international climate commitments. “These projects only benefit the gas lobby and hurt everyone else. Renewable energy is cleaner, cheaper and can reach communities that don’t have access to the grid today,” said Nicole Figueiredo, director of the Arayara Institute in Brazil, quoted in the report.
For her part, COP30 Executive Director Ana Toni stressed that accelerating methane reduction is part of the conference’s action agenda and that reducing methane emissions in the fossil fuel sector is essential to reducing the pace and extent of global warming. “If we exceed the limit of 1.5°C of warming, the reduction of methane, in the short term, can make a big difference in how we can close this gap,” he warned, underlining that the issue will be at the center of discussions in Belém.
In this context, civil society organizations will participate this Saturday in a large march and carry out a symbolic funeral for fossil fuels. Featuring hundreds of artists, community leaders and environmental advocates, the event will transform protest into art and pain into hope. In parallel, the Global Climate March, organized by the People’s Summit, will call for a just and urgent transition to abandon coal, oil and gas, the main causes of the climate and environmental crisis.
The request to the parties and the Presidency of COP30 is clear: focus discussions on reducing methane emissions in the fossil fuel sector, promote concrete actions to eliminate leaks and fugitive emissions and immediately stop all public or multilateral funding for new gas infrastructure. These measures are not radical, but consistent with the climate urgency and the need to keep the 1.5°C target alive. Continuing to allocate resources to fossil gas projects means mortgaging the future and diverting funds that should support the urgent transition to clean and resilient energy.
An explosion of climate justice
In parallel to the discussion on the exit from fossil fuels, COP30 will also be the scene of proposals to strengthen the institutional architecture of the just transition. One of these is the Belém Action Mechanism for a Just Transition (BAM in English). This global civil society initiative proposes a new instance under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that helps overcome the fragmentation and insufficiency of current efforts.
The BAM aims to articulate dispersed initiatives, ensure their coherence with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and offer a framework for cooperation that links climate action with social justice, workers’ rights and sustainable development. At the same time, the creation of BAM can be a step forward in accelerating the transition to clean energy and leaving fossil fuels behind.
COP30 in Belém offers a historic opportunity to correct course. Brazil, as a host country, has the opportunity to lead a debate that puts science, human rights and climate justice at the center of decisions. It is a question of defining whether fossil gas will continue to occupy a space in the global energy matrix or whether a decisive step will be taken towards its abandonment. Belém can become the stage where a before and after is marked in international climate policy, recognizing that fossil gas is not a transition, but a delay.
