Published by Instituto Cordilheira and Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Brazil is at a crossroads as it seeks to solidify its climate leadership at COP30. The country is home to significant transition mineral resources – in particular bauxite and iron ore, among others – yet its history of large-scale socio-environmental disasters in the mining sector, such as the Mariana and Brumadinho cases, highlights the contradictions and tensions at stake.

COP30, far from being merely a stage for environmental diplomacy, is becoming an arena of contestation over who defines the transition, who bears its costs, and who profits from its pathways. In this sense, a fundamental question arises: how can Brazil ensure that negotiations at the COP are not tainted with corporate capture?

For the country to truly assert legitimate climate leadership, it needs to ensure that COP discussions centre human rights, environmental justice, and a commitment to fully remedy historical injustices and harms.