A conference in Colombia could mark the most serious international effort ever to transition away from fossil fuels.
With more than 10 million barrels of oil a day currently being held up in the Hormuz Strait, the dangers of relying on imported fossil fuels have never been clearer.
At COP30 in 2025, co-sponsors Colombia and the Netherlands announced the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels. It will be held in Santa Marta in Colombia from 24-29 April.
“There is a clear momentum to phase out fossil fuels, and now is the time to capitalise on it,” said the Netherlands’ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Policy and Green Growth, Sophie Hermans.
The goal of the conference is to agree on “actionable solutions” that follow-up meetings can refine so governments around the world can implement them.
Organisers say a key aim is to ensure that “the gradual abandonment of fossil fuel dependence” is done in a just way, which they define as not “generating adverse impacts in terms of employment, macroeconomic stability, or energy security.”
“We must begin to materialise what this phase-out could look like and start a concrete roadmap that allows us to incorporate the new and leave the old behind,” said Minister Hermans.
Not just another COP climate summit
The annual UN COP climate summits are often criticised for grindingly slow decision-making and lack of concrete outcomes.
The words “fossil fuels” were not even mentioned in the final text agreed at COP30 in 2025, despite more than 85 countries calling for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels. Included among them were Germany, the UK, France and Spain – the world’s third, sixth, seventh and 12th biggest economies. The major global south countries Brazil and Mexico, the world’s 10th and 13th biggest economies, also backed the measure.
The Santa Marta conference aims to start drawing up this roadmap.
By changing how attendees vote, the conference could succeed where COPs have failed.
“It will not be governed by UN rules, which require consensus, but by majority rule, thus preventing a handful of countries from sabotaging progress as petrostates did at COP30,” say Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope from Covering Climate Now.
Organisers are careful to stress that the conference “is not intended to serve as a negotiating body, nor does it constitute part of any formal negotiation process or initiative, and it is not intended to replace the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).”
Who will be at The First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels?
The idea is for governments to share how they plan to transition away from oil and gas, supported by academics, climate activists, leaders of Indigenous peoples, trade union representatives and other civil society voices, sharing their ideas and experiences on how to make the abstract goal of phasing out fossil fuels a practical reality.
Conference organisers say they have invited countries that endorsed the roadmap proposal at COP30, as well as high-profile leaders of regional governments, including the California governor, Gavin Newsom, who could run for US president in 2028.
The event will host government representatives from nearly 50 countries, including leaders from nations whose economies are dependent on oil, coal and gas, such as Brazil, Angola, Vietnam and Mexico.
From Europe the following countries will be in attendance: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and Norway.
The two-boat Climate Justice Flotilla, organised by the likes of Extinction Rebellion and Fossil Fuel Treaty, is sailing to Santa Marta. It is stopping off in Bonaire, Aruba and Curaçao.
Eight of Bonaire’s residents, together with Greenpeace, were protagonists of a major victory for climate justice in January 2026: a landmark ruling by the District Court of The Hague established that the Netherlands is violating Bonaire residents’ human rights by failing to protect them from the climate crisis.
Countries in attendance could become new economic superpower
The conference aims to begin drawing up the roadmap blocked at COP30.
One area of focus will be how to phase out the $7tn a year (€5.9tn) governments spend subsidising fossil fuels – but to do so without punishing communities, workers and tax bases that rely on such subsidies.
The secret weapon of the “coalition of the willing” gathering in Colombia is its potential to function as an economic superpower, say Hertsgaard and Pope.
Combine the gross national products of the 85 countries that backed the roadmap at COP and the total is $33.3tn (€28.2tn). That’s larger than the $30.6tn (€25.9tn) GNP of the US, the world’s biggest economy, and considerably larger than the $19.4tn (€16.4) GNP of China, the world’s second-biggest economy.
That amount of economic heft gives those 85 countries enormous potential leverage. If those attending the Just Transition conference can outline a credible roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels for the wider group to unite behind, it could send shock waves through financial markets and government ministries around the world.
