This panel brings together leading voices to discuss the future of the Amazon and its central role in global climate justice.

The event will highlight the Amazon's essential role in advancing global climate justice. It will open with introductory comments by Aline Soterroni, a Brazilian scientist currently at the University of Oxford.

Her recent study (Global Change Biology, 2023) emphasizes the Amazon’s critical role in helping Brazil reach net-zero emissions, showing that combining full enforcement of the Forest Code with an end to legal deforestation and large-scale ecosystem restoration could cut emissions by up to 62%, potentially enabling net-zero by 2040. Soterroni will also address the region's increasing climate vulnerability and the urgency of action.

The panel will explore Brazil's current political landscape and the threats to its climate commitments, focusing on pathways to climate justice in the Amazon.

Discussions will reinforce the importance of renewing and expanding the US$1.7 billion pledge made at COP26 for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs).

The session will also spotlight Indigenous climate funds as essential mechanisms to deliver direct finance, enhance autonomy, and strengthen local leadership.

In addition to Aline Soterroni, confirmed participants include Ana Valéria Araújo, Executive Director of the Brazil Human Rights Fund; Amy Fairbairn, Policy and Communications Director at ClientEarth; Cristiane Fontes, Director of Amoreira Estúdio de Criação; and Márcio Astrini, Executive Director of the Climate Observatory, Brazil’s leading climate network.

Organized by

Earth Alliance, a platform dedicated to co-creating, producing, and elevating unbranded, community-led, and coalition-based impact campaigns to drive tangible and systemic change to protect and restore irreplaceable wild places. Earth Alliance also works to elevate the voices and efforts of people on the frontlines of planetary protection. It was co-founded by philanthropists and activists including Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurene Powell Jobs, who joined forces to accelerate global environmental action.

Amoreira Estúdio de Criação, dedicated to amplifying the impact of social and environmental agendas through research, creative projects, events and campaigns, communication materials, and content production. The agency is led by Cristiane Fontes, a Brazilian journalist and climate strategist with deep expertise in Amazonian affairs and international partnerships.

Climate Justice and NDCs in the Amazon: Perspectives for COP30