Big corporations are profiting by hacking down vast swathes of the Amazon rainforest – one of Earth’s most vital ecosystems – to grow palm oil plantations for ‘biofuels’, so-called ‘green’ fuel.
But this is greenwashing: producing these biofuels not only means deforesting the Amazon, but also destroying biodiversity and pushing into Indigenous Waimini-Atroari territory.
We must transition away from fossil fuels to tackle the climate crisis. But if the replacements – like biofuels – harm the Amazon and its people, they are not an alternative: they are false climate ‘solutions’.
At the UN Climate Summit (COP30), in Belém, Brazil, governments and corporations – including the UK – are promoting the use of biofuels and other false ‘solutions’ to the climate crisis. But these projects risk repeating the same patterns of exploitation we’ve had for decades – destroying forests, fuelling inequality and deepening crises they claim to solve.
At COP30 the UK has an opportunity to change course by calling for an end to false climate ‘solutions’ and by backing a transition away from fossil fuels. This transition must move us to an economy that centres justice, meets communities’ needs and protects the health of our planet – not corporate profits.
We need to demand action from the UK – and fast. Ed Miliband, the UK's Secretary of State for Energy: stand with the Amazon – back a just transition at COP30 for people and the planet.
