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Between songs, dances and murmurs, three black tombs, 5 to 7 meters high, arrived outside Belém’s new San Brazil market. There were no missing widows around, but the mourners waited with sadness and even more hope that this symbolic funeral would become a reality. Each box had a name: Gas; coal (carbon)y oil (oil). In front of the gigantic structure, a magnificent edifice supported by more than a dozen people zigzagged from one side to the other, while a column of more than 80 jaguars stood in the Amazonian streets to protect it.
There, the Amazon’s iconic animals began walking, paving the way for the more than 50,000 participants who took part in the fossil combustible funeral, according to organizers. “It’s a symbolic act, but it’s a political message. COP negotiators need to pave the way for the fossils to be buried and completed once and for all,” said Joan Tarocchi, co-founder of Alianza Potencia Energetica.
While the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) was still debating the energy transition, indigenous representatives and civil society were putting three fossil fuels on the streets.
color tour
“This is not a climate crisis, this is climate change,” marchers shouted, referring to oil drilling on their territory. At the same time, some held phrases such as “Direct financing for the Amazon,” “Feed the world without destroying the planet,” and “2050 will be the year we die before we get there,” a nod to the year when climate neutrality should be achieved according to the Paris Agreement, and thus potentially the end of the phase-out of fossil fuels.
Some carried large cards resembling overdue bills, alluding to resources to fight climate change and funding that they hope will go directly to indigenous communities, but that is not yet a reality.
“The art shows this transition in a playful way. On the front there is a coffin, a grieving woman, and death marking the end of the fossil era, and in the background there is an artistic representation of this future in color,” Tarocchi explains. The report said that behind the funeral, a march of different colors could be seen symbolizing a just energy transition, one of the main demands of COP30.
The masks, costumes, coffin and other elements displayed at the funeral were kept by the Pala University Teatro y Danza de la Escuela de Arte in Belém. “COP arrives at Amazon, and this is what Amazon arrives at COP,” he summarizes.
Despite temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius in the Amazon city, demonstrators continued walking without rest. Spectators then greeted and took photos from balconies and restaurants. After nearly 7km, we arrived at the predicted moment.
“We want to see a clear path forward to preserve fossils and protect biodiversity, nature and our rights,” said Juan Carlos Zintiaja, executive director of the World Alliance of Territorial Communities.
Eventually, the crowd ceremonially buried the fossil. After this legislation, three graves were placed outside the COP30 headquarters as a reminder of what is expected to be achieved at the end of these negotiations.
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