For decades, United Nations climate change summits have rarely even mentioned the words “fossil fuels,” even though burning oil, gas and coal is the main driver of the scorching temperatures and extreme floods that have brought so much destruction and suffering to countries around the world, not least Pakistan. But in a historic development, 57 countries representing one-third of the world’s economy met last week in Santa Marta, Colombia, to discuss not whether, but how, to phase out fossil fuels.
The First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels concluded with broad agreement that participating countries will begin developing national “roadmaps” to leave fossil fuels behind, while also addressing the needs of workers, businesses, and communities currently reliant on fossil fuel-related jobs, revenues, and subsidies.
“You are the light in a tunnel of darkness,” Johan Rockström, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told delegates.
Plans for the conference gained urgency after the limited results of the UN climate summit last November. Scientists have long said that rapidly phasing out fossil fuels is necessary to limit global temperature rise to levels that remain within survivable bounds for human civilization. However, Saudi Arabia led a group of petrostates in using UN consensus rules to block a proposal from 85 countries calling for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.
By contrast, the Santa Marta conference was held outside the UN process and operated under majority participation rather than consensus. Most of the world’s largest fossil fuel-producing states, including the United States and China, did not attend.
The conference also received an unexpected boost when the head of the International Energy Agency said in an interview with The Guardian that recent disruptions in fossil fuel markets have caused structural damage. The interruptions to oil and gas supply and resulting price volatility, said Fatih Birol, will accelerate a global shift toward renewable energy sources. “The vase is broken, damage is done, it will be very difficult to put the pieces back together,” he said.
Birol, whose agency The New York Times has described as “enormously influential” in shaping long-term energy planning, has previously said falling renewable energy costs signal the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. His comments are likely to be viewed critically by the government of US president Donald Trump, which has threatened to withdraw from the IEA. The United States contributes roughly 14% of the agency’s annual budget.
“I am very happy Birol is saying this,” said Irene Vélez-Torres, Colombia’s environment minister, who co-sponsored the conference with the Netherlands, in an interview with Covering Climate Now. “It seems that many of us are seeing at the same time that fossil fuels cannot provide energy security, because fossil fuels are subject to scarcity, and scarcity can be manipulated. Our energy sovereignty as well as our climate survival require moving to other energy sources.”
The co-sponsorship by Colombia and the Netherlands carries symbolism: Colombia is among the world’s leading coal exporters, while Royal Dutch Shell is one of the world’s largest oil companies. The fact that one Global South country and one Global North country, both dependent on fossil fuel production, jointly supported a global phase-out discussion sent a message to other countries.
The goal in Santa Marta was not to negotiate a binding agreement but to exchange approaches on how to transition economies away from fossil fuels, including contributions from businesses, Indigenous communities, and civil society.
Each country’s roadmap will be voluntary and tailored to national circumstances. “This conference is not about documents,” said Rachel Kyte, the UK special representative for climate. “It’s about finding fellow travelers and learning from them—what’s working, what isn’t?”
France presented what it described as the first national roadmap by a developed country to phase out fossil fuels. The plan includes removing coal from electricity generation by 2027, ending oil consumption by 2045, and phasing out gas by 2050.
The Chinese electric vehicle company BYD and the Australian mining company Fortescue hosted a private sector roundtable aboard what Fortescue described as the world’s first cargo ship powered entirely without fossil fuels, instead running on green ammonia. Fortescue called for a shift toward “real zero” emissions rather than “net zero,” which often includes carbon offsets.
Asked about global public demand for stronger climate action, Ana Toni, a Brazilian diplomat and executive director of the COP30 UN climate summit, urged citizens to act at national level. “There are elections coming up, and what consumer choices people make also matter. Are you taking the bus or a private car? What kind of food do you eat? All these things are important.”
The Santa Marta conference’s conclusions are intended to accelerate progress at COP31 this November, but its larger impact may come from the economic weight of its “coalition of the willing.” Among the governments represented were Germany, the United Kingdom, California, France, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Mexico, and Australia—the third, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth largest economies in the world, respectively.
Together, they represent a de facto economic bloc larger than the United States and roughly twice the size of China. If this coalition gradually withdraws its purchasing power from fossil fuels, it could reduce demand, affect the viability of new fossil fuel projects, and contribute to the risk of stranded assets.
A similar dynamic followed the 2015 Paris Agreement. After governments pledged to limit temperature rise to “well below” 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, public and private sector planning began to shift. Fossil fuel expansion slowed in some areas, while investment in renewable energy increased. Before Paris, the world was on track for approximately 4°C of warming. Five years later, projections had shifted to around 2.7°C—still far above safe levels, but lower than previous trajectories.
In Santa Marta, participants emphasised listening to scientific guidance rather than fossil fuel lobbying. “We are crossing tipping points that will undermine human society within our lifetimes,” Rockström said. He and Carlos Nobre of Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research have assembled a scientific panel to advise governments on fossil fuel phase-out strategies. “A critical mass of 30 countries are already decarbonizing their economies, showing that it can be done,” Rockström said.
Santa Marta may mark a significant moment in global climate efforts, though much depends on what follows. Whether rhetoric translates into national policy, whether more countries join, and how major emitters outside the process respond remain open questions. A follow-up conference is scheduled for February 2027, hosted by Tuvalu and co-sponsored by Ireland. “This is not the end,” said Irene Vélez-Torres at the close of the conference. “It is the beginning of a new global climate democracy.”
The article is contributed by Covering Climate Now. The writer is its cofounder and executive director.
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