Around 60 governments, including Nigeria, Brazil, Germany and Canada, opened the first international conference on phasing out fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, on Tuesday. The meeting comes as the war in Iran has disrupted global oil and gas markets and pushed prices to record levels.
The two‑day summit, co‑hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, is intended to move beyond the broad targets set at United Nations climate summits and focus on concrete measures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Delegates will discuss how to phase out existing extraction projects, reform subsidies that favour carbon‑intensive energy, and ensure a just transition for workers and communities dependent on the sector.
Participants include major producers such as Canada, Norway and Australia, as well as developing oil exporters Nigeria, Angola and Brazil. Energy‑intensive economies from the European Union, Turkey, Vietnam and several small island states are also represented. The United States, China, India and the Gulf oil exporters are not attending.
The agenda reflects growing impatience with the UN process, which many see as slow to address the primary driver of climate change. “People seem refreshed to be able to talk about these issues without having to argue the existential question of whether we need to do this at all,” said the United Kingdom’s special climate envoy, Rachel Kyte, during a briefing in Santa Marta.
A scientific panel accompanying the conference presented a 12‑point “menu” of policy options, the most ambitious of which calls for an immediate halt to new fossil‑fuel extraction and infrastructure projects. Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Nobre warned that, even without new exploration, existing reserves are sufficient to raise global temperatures to 2.5 °C above pre‑industrial levels by 2050, exceeding the threshold beyond which irreversible damage to coral reefs and ice sheets is expected.
Activists and Indigenous groups staged protests in the coastal city as delegates arrived, underscoring the societal pressure for decisive action. While the summit is not expected to produce binding commitments, the scientific panel urged governments to consider a moratorium on new fossil‑fuel expansion and to accelerate public investment in renewable energy. An analysis by the International Institute for Sustainable Development highlighted that public spending on fossil fuels remains five times higher than on clean‑energy alternatives.
The conference marks the first coordinated effort by a diverse group of nations to chart a practical pathway away from fossil fuels. Outcomes will likely shape future bilateral and multilateral negotiations, as the global community seeks to stabilize energy markets while meeting increasingly urgent climate targets.
