Observatório do Clima e outros vs. IBAMA, Petrobras e União Federal (Revocation of the Operating License for drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River)

On 22nd October 2025 the NGOs Observatório do Clima, Greenpeace Brazil, WWF Brazil, Arayara Institute of Education and Culture, National Commission for the Strengthening of Extractive Reserves and Coastal Marine Extractive Peoples (CONFREM), Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon (COIAB), National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Quilombola Black Communities of Amapá (CONAQ-AP) and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP), with a request for preliminary injunction, against IBAMA, Petrobras and the Federal Government. The objective is to suspend and subsequently annul the Operating License (LO) 1,684/2025 for the Offshore Drilling Activity in Block FZA-M-59, located at the mouth of the Amazon River, due to technical weaknesses and irreparable flaws in the environmental licensing process. The request aims to determine that the environmental agency IBAMA refrain from issuing environmental licenses for oil projects without a complete assessment of their environmental viability, both in the Amazon River mouth basin and in other basins of the Equatorial Margin. It argues for the need to assess climate impacts and the direct and indirect impacts of the activity, with the provision of complete data on direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from current and already contracted oil production in the country, and verification of the compatibility between Brazilian climate emission reduction targets and the carrying capacity of the climate system for the project's emissions. It is pointed out that Block FZA-M-59 is located in an area of notorious environmental sensitivity and vulnerability to oil spills, near mangroves and coastal dunes and the Great Amazon Reef System, ecosystems whose preservation is fundamental to mitigating the current climate emergency scenario. In addition, an Environmental Assessment of the Sedimentary Area (AAAS) of the region where the block is located has never been carried out to evaluate the socio-environmental attributes of the region and define its suitability for oil exploration. Another argument raised concerns the lack of updated and complete studies on the oceanographic composition of the region, especially its hydrodynamic base, which has strong and unpredictable currents and high levels of sediment brought by the Amazon River – a factor that was ignored in the licensing process and is directly related to oil sinking and reef impact – exacerbating the flaws in the oil dispersion model and making an efficient response to a spill accident impossible. On this point, it is also highlighted, from an adaptation perspective, that the studies ignored the growing vulnerability of the Amazon River mouth to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme events, and the licensing process should assess both how the oil exploration project will exacerbate the climate crisis and how the exacerbation of this crisis itself will increase the operational and environmental risks of the project. The plaintiffs emphasized that the necessary Indigenous and Quilombola Component Studies were not carried out, nor was there free, prior and informed consultation with the Indigenous peoples, Quilombola and traditional communities affected by the project. They also argued that IBAMA's stance in authorizing the operating license is contrary to socio-environmental interests and the technical assessment of its own employees and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which have repeatedly recommended its rejection. They alleged that the licensing process was based on intense and incessant political influence. Furthermore, the advisory opinions published by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice on the duties of States in the context of climate change were highlighted. The plaintiffs requested, as a preliminary injunction, the suspension of the effects of Operating License 1.684/2025 to prevent and/or halt any and all drilling activity in Block FZA-M-59. On the merits, they requested: (i) the annulment of the LO due to the flaws and technical deficiencies of the EIA-RIMA and the environmental licensing process; (ii) that IBAMA refrain from issuing environmental licenses for oil projects in the sedimentary basin of the Amazon River mouth and in other basins of the Equatorial Margin without first attesting to the complete environmental viability of the project (including considering direct and indirect climate damage, as well as the relationship of the project with Brazilian climate goals) and without having carried out free, prior, informed and good-faith consultation with the affected populations and traditional communities.