November 14, 2025 – Belém, Pará – The international seminar “Just and Popular Energy Transition for the Peoples”, held during the People’s Summit at COP30, brought together community leaders, workers, social organizations and representatives from several countries of the Global South to debate pathways toward a transition capable of confronting inequalities, reducing environmental impacts and guaranteeing energy sovereignty for territories.
The meeting emphasized that the currently dominant models—based on financialization, megaprojects and the expansion of sacrifice zones—do not meet the needs of peoples and instead deepen historical injustices. Speakers stressed that a just transition is only possible with social participation, decentralization, appropriable technologies, and recognition of the rights of workers and affected communities, represented by the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) and the Movimiento de Afectados por Represas (MAR).
Opening the debate, representatives of popular movements argued that the energy transition must break with fossil fuel corporations and the financial market, which are responsible for the climate crisis and for decades of territorial exploitation. The central call was for energy democracy, with community control, social justice and public policies that prioritize those who suffer most from the impacts of the climate crisis.
The seminar also included a round of testimonies from victims of environmental disasters, bringing the concrete perspective of territories that live with the consequences of predatory development models. A poem-performance emphasized that resistance is born from the aggression experienced by peoples, reinforcing that affected communities must be recognized as protagonists of energy transformation.
Gery, a worker from the oil sector in the United States, denounced that market-driven transitions have left entire communities behind, leading to refinery closures, unemployment and abandonment. “The transition, as it is being carried out, creates more poverty and more suffering,” he warned.
From Venezuela, Eduardo Castilho, from the Ecosocialist Front for Life, criticized the logic of megaprojects and defended decentralized and interconnected systems that strengthen popular autonomy. According to him, every energy matrix requires some level of extraction, and therefore life must be placed at the center of the transition process.
From Pakistan, Hussam Jarwar denounced pressure from international financial institutions to replace coal with gas, LNG and hydropower without consulting local communities. He stated that this model deepens debt, raises energy costs and weakens workers, women and youth, reinforcing the need for international articulation against imposed transitions.
Representing Mozambique, a community leader reported the advance of extractivism in previously self-sufficient territories, denouncing the destruction of ways of life and the growing dependence on food imports. In her remarks, she highlighted the role of African women as guardians of the land and defended territorial sovereignty and sustainable models aligned with local realities.
Closing the interventions, Beatriz Dias, a young Amazonian woman from the state of Amapá, demanded the effective presence of youth—especially those from peripheral, Black, Indigenous and Quilombola communities—in COP30 debates. For her, discussing the future and the climate without ensuring youth leadership is to deny the very right to a future.
The seminar reaffirmed that a truly just energy transition is popular, territorialized and built from the needs of peoples, grounded in democracy, community-based solutions and the confrontation of the extractivist model that fuels the climate crisis.
Photos: Samara Silva / Ag. EficazPress