Green royalties: Keeping offshore Amazon free of oil

Oil production curves (bbl) for Campos and Santos Basins (1977–2023) and estimated production curve for Equatorial Margin, with corresponding fund curve. The x-axis are the years of exploration of the oil fields. • Brazilian Amazon offshore is potentially becoming a new frontier for oil exploration. • This contradicts national and global pledges to fight planetary crises. • Sub-national governments often rely on the consequent distribution of oil royalties. • We propose that this is replaced by a Green Royalty Fund of USD 19.9–33.1 billion. • Implementation would align with local and global biodiversity and climate pledges. While the world urgently hopes to reduce GHG emissions from fossil fuels and deforestation, the Brazilian Amazon offshore potentially becomes a new frontier for oil companies. The expected impact of oil royalties on the regional GDP is a political driving force pro-exploration. We advocate that the Brazilian Amazon offshore must remain oil exploration-free and that the country could give up its sovereign right to explore oil locally while replacing oil royalties with "green royalties". Therefore, we propose that the region could benefit from creating a trust fund covering the same amount of royalties that the area would receive from the country's decision not to allow oil exploration in the region.