Santa Marta Climate Conference:
Representatives from over 50 countries, accounting for nearly 50% of global GDP, gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels.
- The conference was born out of growing frustration with the slow, consensus-bound negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conferences of the Parties (CoPs), which have frequently stalled on the issue of fossil fuel phase-out.
- Santa Marta Climate Conference is The First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels was co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands.
- It was conceptualized as a “safe harbour” for a “coalition of the willing” countries ready to take concrete steps to phase out fossil fuels, bypassing the political deadlocks of traditional UN climate summits.
- Objective is to develop practical, national, and international roadmaps to end the use of fossil fuels and shift towards renewable energy systems, aligning trade and finance policies with green transitions.
- There was growing momentum for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, especially from Small Island Developing States (SIDS), to address supply-side governance gaps.
- Participants stressed aligning trade, finance, and carbon pricing with green transition goals, including phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, while calling for financial and technical support for developing countries to ensure an equitable shift to zero-carbon pathways.
- France has launched Europe’s first fuel-by-fuel fossil exit roadmap, confirming coal will end by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050.
