Brazil, Other Nations Agree to Quadruple Sustainable Fuels

October 16, 2025

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by Andrew Zinin (AFP/Phys.Org) Brazil, India, Italy and Japan vowed Tuesday (October 14, 2025) to quadruple their production and consumption of renewable fuels, hoping other countries will join the pledge during UN climate talks in November.

"We hope to have a good number of signatories" by COP30, Brazilian foreign ministry official Joao Marcos Paes Leme told reporters in the capital Brasilia.

"Other European countries are also interested," he added.

Paes Leme was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of representatives from 67 countries in the run up to COP30 climate talks in the Amazon city of Belem next month.

The pledge involves quadrupling the production of sustainable fuels such as biofuels, hydrogen and some synthetic fuels by 2035, compared to 2024 levels.

Paes Leme noted that these fuels can be used to replace planet-harming fossil fuels in sectors such as aviation, maritime transport, or the cement and steel industries.

"These are sectors where decarbonization is difficult," because electrical energy has not yet succeeded in replacing fossil fuels.

Sustainable fuels are already used in these industries "but they are not produced in sufficient quantities," he said.

The massive use of coal, oil, and fossil gas for energy since the industrial revolution is the primary driver of human-induced global warming.

The commitment to sustainable fuels "is something we love to hear," said Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

However, he warned that some biofuels can be harmful due to the vast expanses of land required to produce raw materials such as sugarcane, soy, or corn.

"We have to be serious about what we say, sustainable fuel also means sustainable from the perspective of land use."

For the first time, the world pledged to "transition away" from fossil fuels at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

However many of the largest fossil-fuel producing nations—including Brazil—are planning to increase production in the coming years. READ MORE

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Launch of the Belém Commitment for Sustainable Fuels – "Belém 4x" (Brazil Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Google Translation))
Scientists call on global leaders to limit biofuels ahead of COP30 (Renewable Energy Magazine)

Excerpt from The Guardian: A spokesperson from Brazil’s foreign affairs ministry said: “Brazil is not proposing that countries quadruple biofuels. The proponents of the pledge (which include Japan, Italy, India, among others) are calling upon countries to support quadrupling production and use of sustainable fuels — a group of gaseous and liquid fuels that include e-fuels, biogases, biofuels, hydrogen and its derivatives.

“The proposed fourfold increase is a global goal (countries are not expected to individually quadruple production). It is based on an IEA report released this week that said this production increase is both feasible and necessary to reduce emissions, particularly from hard-to-abate sectors. The IEA report is a sound, scientific document underpinning the proposed Belém 4x pledge. The word ‘sustainable’ is not used lightly, neither in the report nor in the pledge.

“For a fuel to be sustainable, it must have low-GHG intensity over its lifecycle, measured in grams of CO2 equivalent by megajoule of fuel (gCO2;MJ). It also needs to comply with a set of non-GHG criteria, such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable water management and compliance with social safeguards. These concerns are taken seriously and have been integrated into the design of the declaration itself.” READ MORE

Excerpt from International Energy Agency: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a new report “Delivering Sustainable Fuels” as a follow up of its 2024 report “Towards Common Criteria for Sustainable Fuels”.

The deployment of sustainable fuels – liquid biofuels, biogases, renewable hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels – is complementary to the electrification and energy efficiency in energy transition in various sectors, like transport and industry. If current and proposed national and international policy would be fully implemented their deployment could double by 2030 and even quadruple by 2035, compared to 2024 levels.

To achieve this IEA call for a shared global vision for sustainable fuels, to bridge cost gaps, boost innovation to expand protection potential, develop carbon accounting methodologies and freeing up long-term investments and access to finance, and to bring on board developments in emerging and developing economies.

Based on this report and as part of the run up to the COP30 to be held in Brazil from 10 to 21 November 2025, Brazil, joined by India, Italy and Japan, has just announced a pledge to quadruple the deployment of sustainable biofuels by 2035.

Read the press release on the Brazilian Foreign Ministry website (Portuguese language)

The “Belém Commitment for Sustainable Fuels,” or “Belém 4x,” was launched on 14 October 2025 during the pre-COP30 meeting in Brasília. The initiative aims to provide high-level political support for the global goal of at least quadrupling the production and use of sustainable fuels by 2035. The text is being negotiated by Brazil with partner countries such as India, Italy, and Japan and will be published in the coming days.

Read the full report: “Delivering Sustainable Fuels”

Quote from the IEA website:

“Sustainable fuels – including liquid biofuels, biogases, low-emissions hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels – offer multiple benefits for the energy sector. They complement electrification and energy efficiency in energy transitions, and are particularly important for sectors that continue to be reliant on fuel-based solutions such as aviation, shipping, and parts of road transport and industry. Sustainable fuels can also enhance energy security, strengthen environmental sustainability and stimulate economic development, particularly in rural areas.

If fully legislated and implemented, current and proposed national and international policies would put the use of sustainable liquid and gaseous fuels on a path to nearly double from 2024 levels by 2030 and quadruple by 2035. Progress must occur on multiple fronts to increase uptake and foster a large and diverse set of sustainable fuel pathways. This calls for a shared global vision for sustainable fuels, along with targeted policies to bridge costs gaps with conventional fuels, innovation to expand production potential, robust and mutually agreed carbon accounting methodologies to ensure that sustainability criteria are met, long-term investment in infrastructure, and more accessible financing, especially in emerging and developing economies.

This report was prepared in support of Brazil’s COP30 Presidency and its Climate Action Agenda. It presents a sectoral analysis of global pathways for accelerating the deployment of sustainable liquid and gaseous fuels to 2035. It also summarises cumulative policy experience to date, identifies key technology and infrastructure requirements for scaling up deployment, and highlights resulting benefits that extend well beyond emissions reductions. Finally, the report outlines priority policy actions for governments seeking to adopt sustainable fuels to achieve measurable emissions reductions, strengthen domestic energy security and foster new opportunities for economic development.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Brazil Minstry of Foreign Affairs: he "Belém Commitment for Sustainable Fuels," or "Belém 4x," was launched today (October 14, 2025) during the pre-COP in Brasília. The initiative, to be endorsed at the Climate Summit on November 6 and 7, aims to provide high-level political support for the global goal of at least quadrupling the production and use of sustainable fuels by 2035. The text is co-sponsored by Brazil, Italy, and Japan, with support from India, and is available here .

The goal of quadrupling the production of sustainable fuels is based on a report by the International Energy Agency entitled “Delivering Sustainable Fuels - Pathways to 2035”, published today and available here .

The Belém 4x commitment aims to promote the global adoption of more clean and sustainable energy sources, such as hydrogen and its derivatives, biogases, biofuels and synthetic fuels, which can be substitutes for fossil fuels, as part of the gradual effort to decarbonize energy systems and combat climate change.

2025.10.16_COP30 Declaration_Sustainable Fuels.pdf
2025.10.16_COP30 Declaration_Sustainable Fuels.pdf READ MORE (Google translation)

Excerpt from Renewable Energy Magazine: Over 100 members of the global scientific community, including representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the World Resources Institute, are calling on global leaders to limit what the scientists say is a dangerous expansion of biofuels.

The scientists signed a letter, ahead of the COP30 climate change negotiations, which open next week in Belém, Brazil, as a response to Brazil seeking high-level support for a leaders’ pledge to quadruple so-called “sustainable fuel” use - including a doubling of biofuels consumption.

The letter says that there is mounting scientific evidence showing that, far from being a climate-friendly solution as many governments claim, on average the energy source is responsible for 16 percent more emissions than the fossil fuels they replace. Estimates indicate that doubling biofuel production would increase net global greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 34 MtCO₂e annually, the equivalent of putting 30 million new diesel cars on the road.

It also warns that such an expansion would have devastating environmental impacts in some of the world’s most biodiverse regions, consume scarce water resources, and contribute to agricultural runoff. Moreover, the scientists also caution that increased biofuels use will exacerbate global hunger by raising food prices, intensifying food price volatility, and diverting calories from human consumption.

Curbing unrestrained biofuels use is not without precedent. In 2020, the EU agreed to cap conventional (first-generation) crop-based biofuels at a 7 percent share of its transport energy, while waste- and residue-based biofuels are limited to 1.7 percent to encourage fuel innovations and reduce land-use impacts.

In biofuel producer nations, like Brazil and Indonesia, local NGOs are calling for a holistic approach to manage negative impacts, including caps on cultivation, better traceability, and investments in community-based governance and decentralised energy.

The scientists claim that Brazil’s biofuels push reflects a dangerous resurgence of biofuels as a global commodity that threatens to repeat the mistake of the “biofuels gold rush” in the mid-2000s that prompted large-scale deforestation, biodiversity loss, and human rights abuses. READ MORE