Fair and popular energy transition takes center stage at the People’s Summit

by Carolina Scorce / MAB

The debate on the future of energy was at the center of the People’s Summit on Thursday (13) in Belém, during the Seminar on Fair and Popular Energy Transition for the People, which brought together social movements, unions, and representatives of international organizations. With a packed auditorium, the panel marked one of the most intense moments of the Axis 3 program, dedicated to the strategic dispute over the energy model, and reinforced a consensus: the transition to clean sources will only be fair if it is led by workers, affected populations, and the peoples who are currently paying the price for the climate crisis.

The meeting presented a letter from the Workers’ and Peasants’ Platform for Water and Energy, which advocates for a popular, sovereign, and anti-imperialist transition, anchored in the recognition that the capitalist mode of production, based on the unequal appropriation of wealth, private control of energy, and the financialization of public policies, is primarily responsible for the environmental crisis. 

The document points out that energy should not be seen as a consumer product on the market, but as a common good, a right, and that any transition must prioritize food, energy, and territorial sovereignty, combined with the distribution of wealth and popular control over energy systems.

FUP director Cibele Vieira stated that workers must stand united with the local population to ensure a fair transition. Photo: Joka Madruga / MAB

Throughout the seminar, representatives from various organizations made clear that the energy transition is not just a technological change, but a dispute over the country’s future. Cibele Vieira, director of the Single Federation of Oil Workers (FUP), pointed out that oil workers cannot be treated as enemies of the energy transition, but as an essential part of the process:

“We, oil workers, want to know who we are working for and what we are working for. The transition must guarantee jobs, security, and pride in our work, and not generate fear and blame. The oil that exists today can and should finance the transition itself, as long as control is public and focused on the Brazilian people,” she said.

Cibele warned that if the transition is led by the market, there is a risk of repeating inequalities: expensive, privatized energy geared toward corporate interests. The argument that Petrobras should play a leading and strategic role, exploring new frontiers and financing alternative energy sources, was reiterated as a condition for a sovereign transition.

The role of workers: organizing to transform

In the debate on the direction of the energy transition presented during the People’s Summit, experts emphasized that the process must take into account the country’s economic structure and the strategic role of the sectors that currently sustain Brazil’s energy matrix. Among them, the oil and gas sector, which continues to be central to energy supply and industrial employment, occupied a prominent place in the discussions led by researchers and union representatives. 

It was in this context that Davi Bonela, from the Oil and Gas Observatory, drew attention to the need for a transition that dialogues with the national reality and with the workers who drive this production chain.

“The climate crisis is real and already affects, above all, the most vulnerable populations. But in Brazil, 44% of the energy supply comes from the oil and gas sector, which also generates more than 600,000 jobs. We cannot import transition models that ignore our specificities. The sector must be part of the solution, not a scapegoat. We need data, transparency, and popular participation to define what transition is fair for the Brazilian people,” he said.

Bonela pointed out that the Observatory was created precisely to offer tools that enable social movements to challenge narratives, monitor impacts, and develop their own proposals, preventing the transition from being captured by international financial interests. The Oil and Gas Observatory is an initiative of the Zé Eduardo Dutra Institute for Strategic Studies on Oil, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (Ineep) and was launched during COP30 in Belém with support from the FUP and the Climate and Society Institute (ICS).

The alternatives already exist: community energy and popular networks

While representatives of the trade union movement pointed out the challenges in the industrial sector, popular organizations demonstrated that other forms of energy production are already underway, especially in the affected territories. Juan Pablo Solé, from the Ríos Vivos Movement (Colombia) and part of the coordination of the recently launched International Movement of People Affected by Dams, Socio-Environmental Crimes, and Climate Crisis, shared concrete experiences of community systems.

“We started with small initiatives in peasant communities, which seemed too small. But small for whom? When there are thousands of families, that turns into millions of kilowatts. Community energy is not an isolated proposal: it is a real way to democratize access, reduce tariffs, and transform the energy culture,” he said.

Juan also pointed out that energy is not just electricity: it is mobility, quality of life, food, technology, and autonomy. “If communities have the right to produce their own energy and decide who it serves, the transition ceases to be a technical agenda and becomes a tool for emancipation,” said the Colombian. 

The political horizon: sovereignty, rights, and new models of development

The reading of the platform’s letter reinforced that a just energy transition is directly linked to the fight against environmental racism, patriarchy, colonialism, and job insecurity. It is about redefining who controls energy, who decides on the territory, and who gets the benefits.

The document points out ways forward:

• re-nationalization and strengthening of the public energy sector;
• popular control over energy tariffs and infrastructure;
• public financing for community-based and democratic energy sources;
• guaranteeing decent jobs, training workers, and productive reconversion;
• food and energy sovereignty going hand in hand;
• international cooperation among affected peoples;
• anti-colonial transition, confronting the advance of corporations on indigenous, peasant, and peripheral territories.

The possible future: uniting what capital has fragmented

The seminar reinforced the position of popular and trade union movements that the energy transition goes beyond a technical change aimed at tackling the climate crisis, and must therefore be carried out. For the movements present, this is an opportunity to redefine the country’s development model, incorporating environmental justice, racial equality, popular sovereignty, and the recognition of energy as a social right.

The broad participation of affected populations, oil workers, electricity workers, peasants, the feminist movement, youth, indigenous peoples, and international organizations from five continents pointed out that the debate on the future of energy cannot take place without those who produce, live in the territories, and directly suffer the impacts of the current model.