Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Petrobras exhibits both supportive and oppositional engagement with science-aligned climate policy, engaging strategically. The company is broadly supportive of specific climate policies in Brazil, though its engagement is limited and often accompanied by exceptions. Petrobras consistently advocates for a sustained role for fossil fuels in the energy mix, along with new exploration and production of fossil fuels.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Petrobras appears to broadly support climate policy in its top-line messaging. In its 2024 Climate Change Supplement, published in May 2025, the company recognized the need for urgent action to combat climate change and referenced the Global Stocktake from COP28, which highlighted the need for countries to align their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the 1.5ºC target and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. In the same document, from May 2025, Petrobras supported the goals of the UN Paris Agreement and appeared to support climate regulation, stating that the quality of climate policies will be a determining factor for Brazil to achieve its national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Petrobras supports several key climate regulations in Brazil but with some exceptions. In its 2024 Climate Change Supplement, released in May 2025, Petrobras supported the development of voluntary and regulated carbon markets in Brazil. However, the company did not clarify whether it supports a binding emissions trading scheme and described carbon offset credits as a complementary tool in its decarbonization strategy. In a May 2025 Climate Plan consultation response, Petrobras advocated for the inclusion of a national objective focused on energy efficiency, and in its Sustainability Report, published in June 2024, it supported the National Policy on Climate Change and other regional policies to reduce GHG emissions through changes in land use. The company broadly supported regulation to scale up offshore wind energy in Brazil in its 2023 Climate Change Supplement published in April 2024.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Petrobras is negatively engaged in the energy transition and consistently promotes new fossil fuel exploration and production. The company framed offshore oil and gas exploration as critical to national energy security, economic development, and maintaining long-term supply in direct comments to policymakers in April and May 2024, advocating for new fossil fuel development in Brazil, particularly in the Equatorial Margin. In a June 2024 public hearing, it also promoted public investment in updated studies and early-stage research to enable future exploration in the Tacutu Basin, which it described as a promising new frontier. In May 2025, CEO Magda Chambriard supported a just transition in the company's 2024 Climate Change Supplement. However, in the same month, she also stated “It's almost impossible to think of a sharp U-turn away from fossil fuels” over the next decade, as reported by Upstream Online. The company’s leadership has consistently pushed new fossil fuel development in 2024-25, including in a September 2024 press release and a June 2025 press release, where Chambriard supported oil exploration in the Ivory Coast.
In its 2024 Climate Change Supplement, published in May 2025, Petrobras supported a continued role for thermal power plants. During the public hearing on the Fuels of the Future Bill 528/2020 in April 2024, the company appeared to support a less ambitious policy, advocating that biomethane targets should apply only to new natural gas contracts. Additionally, in its 2023 Climate Change Supplement, released in April 2024, Petrobras stated that it is working with Brazilian policymakers on carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) legislation. It appeared to support the development of CCUS technologies for the fossil fuel sector, without indicating a position on the need to move away from a fossil-based energy system.
Industry Association Governance: Petrobras disclosed a partial account of its climate policy engagement through industry associations in its 2024 Climate Change Supplement but excluded its membership to the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Petrobras’s CEO, Magda Chambriard, is the President of the Instituto Brasileiro de Petróleo e Gás (IBP). Petrobras is a member of several associations which engage negatively on climate policy, such as the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) and the Confederação Nacional da Indústria in Brazil. Petrobras stated in its 2024 Climate Supplement that climate alignment is a requirement for joining external entities, and that ongoing memberships are subject to annual reviews to ensure consistency with its climate commitments.
Petrobras is a listed company with more than 50% of its shares owned by the government of Brazil. State-owned enterprises likely retain channels of direct and private engagement with government officials that InfluenceMap is unable to assess, and therefore are not represented in Petrobras' engagement intensity metric.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2025.