HERO provide a basic income for mobilizers who stand up for the environment, the climate, and people’s quality of life. CarbonFix has supported HERO since June 2025.
Kelly Dochy, part of HERO’s Carbon Circle, is a climate justice and indigenous rights mobilizer. She is in charge of Water Security and Institutional partnerships at Jiboiana, an organization to support indigenous people in Brazil. She also works with an app called chilli, which runs digital campaigns with a focus on the U.S., where they are currently focusing on the LNG boom. We spoke to Kelly and Mauricio Porras, co-founder of HERO, before she headed to COP30 in Belem.
Why is it important for climate mobilizers to be at COP?
Mauricio Porras of HERO: We see mobilizers as a counterforce for good. There has been a huge increase in fossil fuel lobbyists attending COP: in 2023, there were almost 2,500 lobbyists, an enormous increase from 636 the previous year. This year there’s the highest concentration ever: one in every 25 participants is a fossil fuel lobbyist. If they were a country, they would be the biggest delegation.
We have to counter that with civil society and with mobilization. This COP in Belem is going to be one of the biggest in terms of civil society presence. At HERO we’re excited to have around 60+ mobilizers on the ground, working specifically to counter those lobbyists. Behind each of those there are hundreds of movement leaders and campaigners.
If we look back at it in three years’ time, I think we’ll see this COP as one of the most important in terms of civil society countering the needs of the people versus the needs of a very specific group representing the fossil fuel industry.
Q: Belém is the first COP in the Amazon region. How does hosting it there change the dynamics compared to COPs in Europe or the Middle East? What opportunities or risks does this create?
Kelly Dochy: It’ll definitely be a different dynamic, especially with the larger space given to civil society participation. The fact that this COP is on the edge of the Amazon and many Indigenous people are participating makes it very unique.
The negotiators and delegations are going to come face-to-face with people that are on the front line of the climate crisis, and hopefully can hear their demands better than at other COPs. Often negotiations and the policymaking process are so disconnected from on-the-ground lived experiences.
The Indigenous movement has been working hard to make their participation more significant. For example, a Brazilian organization for indigenous rights, APIB, have submitted an Indigenous Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). There are also Indigenous ministers in Brazil, such as Sônia Guajajara, which I hope makes a difference.
Q: What are your hopes and expectations for agreements on water security at this COP, particularly in the context of the Amazon?
If we want to humanize the climate crisis, we should be talking about issues like water security. It’s already one of the most devastating impacts of the climate crisis. We’re seeing massive, dramatic flooding and droughts.
Oceans are a massive carbon sink, but they’re also a source of livelihood for so many populations around the world. Climate change will degrade ocean health. Corals are already being lost.
If we don’t act, this is going to affect the livelihoods of millions of people. It’s going to affect the ocean’s ability to capture carbon and it will affect marine biodiversity. People love animals, and I find that when you talk about whales, people get on board.
Q: Under Lula, Brazil has positioned itself as a climate leader. How genuine does this shift appear to you? What kind of pressure mobilizers need to apply to ensure that commitments actually translate to real protections for Indigenous communities.
He has a good reputation on climate issues and deforestation, but he hasn’t really lived up to his campaign promises. He is pushing for exploration for oil on the mouth of the Amazon. We all know that the oil industry is not the only place where people can get good jobs. It will be absolutely devastating if there are new fossil fuel projects in the area, the whole river system will be impacted. If there is a spill, countless communities will be harmed or lost.
Q: What would constitute success at this COP for you?
Recognition that fossil fuels cause the climate crisis! It’s low hanging fruit at this point.
I’m looking for more funding for ocean solutions and land restoration.
And also the inclusion of the Indigenous People’s NDC and the recognition of Indigenous people’s role in terms of solutions and ocean health.
Q: On the flipside, what would constitute failure?
A failure would be if there were no agreement, and no recognition that fossil fuels are the prime driver of climate change, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Q: If we jump ahead three years, how would we know that this COP really mattered? What kind of concrete changes would you want to see?
If we see really ambitious funding given to oceans and indigenous peoples, to land restoration projects, to ocean restoration projects. And we haven’t met the Paris Agreement yet. Maybe we need to go back to the original and update that as well.
Q: Tell me more about your carbon reduction work.
I work with an app called chilli, which runs digital campaigns with a focus on the U.S. Right now we are focusing on the LNG boom.
It’s marketed as a green transition fuel, but it’s actually extremely dirty because it’s mostly methane, which is even more polluting than coal. LNG is often extracted via fracking, often in poorer areas in the south of the U.S., where a lot of Black communities live. It’s environmental racism, because they frack in the middle of neighborhoods that are too poor to protest.
It’s an international issue, because Europe and Southeast Asia are the main buyers of LNG from the U.S. There are also LNG sites along the Gulf that pass through whale migration routes, which are extremely rich in biodiversity, it’s the aquarium of the world.
We’re trying to stop these LNG operations. The best tried-and-tested technique is to attack the financial sector. For example, the coalition that worked on the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, targeted the insurance companies and banks behind the pipeline.
Insurance is the Achilles heel of the financial industry. They’re realizing that some things are a huge risk because they’re going to lose more money than they’re going to make.
It’s a constant game for us of trying to find the targets, the leverage points, the right narrative.
There’s also the need for public pressure. In Mexico they’ve had some success with a campaign called “Whales or gas?” (Ballenas o gas?).
Some of those campaigners will be at COP so hopefully they can bring some visibility into the campaigns as well.
Q: Finally: what is it like to be part of HERO, Kelly?
Kelly: The Carbon Circle has been a next-level gamechanger. Beyond the financial support, which has been immensely helpful and which allows me to focus on my work, it gives me an opportunity to connect with really amazing people. People I didn’t know beforehand, or whom I had only heard about.
The conversations we’ve had over the calls have just been extremely rich and you can tell that people are very passionate and have researched very deeply. It gives me hope. It’s not just fuzzy hope like, “Things are going to be okay”. It’s concrete things that are actually happening. I feel immensely honored to be part of it.
