Colombia is hosting a groundbreaking global conference this month to push forward the transition away from fossil fuels, aiming to break the deadlock that has plagued UN climate talks. The Santa Marta conference, co-convened with the Netherlands and supported by over 50 countries, comes amid soaring fuel prices and an oil crisis sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said the conference is timely, highlighting the risks of fossil fuel dependency. 'We, of course, didn’t know that war was going to break out, but we knew the challenges of a dependency on fossil fuels,' she said. 'This conference comes in the best possible moment.'
The two-day event on 28 and 29 April will bring together nations willing to accelerate the energy transition, while excluding major polluters like the US, China, India, Russia and Gulf petro states. 'Whatever nations have not yet taken that decision, then this is not the space for them,' Vélez said. 'We are not going to have boycotters or climate denialists at the table.'
The 54 confirmed countries represent about a fifth of global fossil fuel production and a third of demand. They include the UK, EU, Canada, Australia, Turkey, and developing nations such as Nigeria, Angola, Mexico and Brazil. The conference is intended to complement, not replace, the annual UN climate summits.
Tzeporah Berman of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative said the UN process has become deadlocked on fossil fuels. 'Year after year, we’ve seen this deadlock exploited to delay meaningful action on fossil fuel supply,' she said. Governments first agreed to 'transition away from fossil fuels' at Cop28 in 2023 but have taken no further steps.
