Belem (Brazil): The Indian delegation led by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav
met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a closed-door meeting of like-minded developing countries, including China and Indonesia, at the COP30 venue on Wednesday.
A source on the Brazilian side told ThePrint that President Lula talked about the roadmap for fossil fuels. An Indian official attending the summit in Belem confirmed that the meeting—the first between the two at COP30—lasted around 20 minutes.
Lula had dropped a bombshell in his COP30 opening speech on 10 November, when he called for a roadmap on fossil fuels despite it not being part of the summit’s agenda. Since then, the Brazilian President has mentioned fossil fuel on two separate occasions.
The topic came up during the discussion between Yadav and Lula, although the immediate details are not known. India’s lead negotiator Amandeep Garg was present at the meeting.
At COP26 in Glasgow, India, together with China, was able to drive the key change in the final text—from fossil fuel phase out, the summit text called for a phase down.
Two years later, at COP28 in Dubai, India agreed to the final text phrasing that called for “transitioning away from fossil fuels”, even as the country emphasised its development needs and the importance of climate justice, arguing that wealthy nations must lead on emissions cuts.
Lula’s demand for a fossil fuel roadmap received a major filip on Tuesday, when 82 countries from Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific islands agreed to include fossil fuel phase out in the final text of COP30, which is expected to be released before the summit concludes at 9 pm local time.
Earlier in the day, Yadav met his Brazilian counterpart Marina Silva and discussed “critical agenda items” at COP30.
Met with Ms Marina Silva, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Brazil on the sidelines of COP30 in Belem.
Our discussions involved developments in the ongoing COP and critical agenda items around it.
India has joined the Brazil-led Tropical Forests Forever Facility… pic.twitter.com/NzQQrb4cPQ
— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) November 19, 2025
Yadav also met Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, to discuss matters related to coordination between like-minded developing countries (LMDCs) “with particular focus on maintaining the integrity of the Paris agreement.”
Late Wednesday evening, President Lula addressed a press conference, where he described COP30 as “the first COP of the people of the entire world.”
“The leaders who run the world today need to understand that if we do not behave in line with the aspirations of the people, of the youth, of women, we will be putting democracy, multilateralism, and credibility at risk,” the Brazilian president said.
He once again raised the issue of fossil fuel, saying that countries must figure out how to move away from it.
“We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And if fossil fuel is something that emits a lot, we need to begin thinking about how to live without fossil fuels, and how to build that path,” he said.
“I say this freely because I am from a country that has oil—a country that extracts 5 million barrels a day. But also a country that uses the most ethanol blended into gasoline, that produces a lot of biodiesel—and our diesel already has 15 percent biodiesel blended in. A country with 87 percent clean electricity—and I want everyone to have that.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)