By Abdullahi Lukman
The Brazilian government is set to auction exploration rights for 172 oil and gas blocks covering 56,000 square miles, including 47 blocks in the sensitive Amazon basin, just months before hosting the COP30 UN climate summit.
The auction, overseen by the country’s oil regulator ANP, aims to boost Brazil’s oil production and support its goal of becoming the world’s fourth-largest oil producer.
Despite government backing, environmental campaigners, Indigenous groups, federal prosecutors, and oil workers’ unions strongly oppose the auction.
They argue that the move risks severe environmental damage, violates Indigenous rights, and contradicts Brazil’s climate commitments.
Critics highlight that many blocks have outdated or insufficient environmental assessments, and some overlap protected areas and Indigenous territories.
Experts warn the carbon emissions from developing these blocks could reach over 11 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, with nearly half coming from the Amazon basin alone—posing significant threats to biodiversity and climate efforts.
The International Energy Agency has stated that new oil and gas developments are incompatible with the global goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Indigenous leaders claim they have been excluded from consultations and face grave impacts from offshore drilling near their communities.
“We Indigenous people are being flattened by this process, we’re not being seen or heard,” said Edmilson Oliveira, a coordinator of Indigenous opposition groups.
Environmental organisations describe the auction as a “doomsday” event and call on the government to cancel it, emphasizing the contradiction of expanding fossil fuel extraction while preparing to host a major climate summit.
“The Amazon is dangerously close to a tipping point,” said Lucas Louback from the advocacy group Nossas.
“Continuing to bet on oil pushes Brazil and the world closer to climate collapse.”