Eighty-five countries have sought a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels, and a conference this month offers hope they could unite to form an economic superpower. The First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, co-sponsored by Colombia and the Netherlands, will take place on 28-29 April in Colombia. Unlike UN climate summits that require consensus, this conference will operate under majority rule, preventing petrostates from blocking progress.
The conference aims to begin drawing up the roadmap that was vetoed at COP30 by Saudi Arabia and other petrostates. Governments comprising a 'coalition of the willing' will share plans to transition their economies away from oil, gas and coal while supporting workers and communities. Climate activists, Indigenous leaders, trade union representatives and other civil society voices will also participate.
One focus will be phasing out the $7 trillion a year in government subsidies for fossil fuels without punishing dependent communities. The UN secretary general has urged the International Energy Agency to help create a global platform to sequence the decline of fossil fuel investment with the rapid scale-up of clean energy.
The coalition's potential economic clout is significant. The combined gross national product of the 85 countries that backed the roadmap at COP30 is $33.3 trillion, larger than the US economy ($30.6tn) and considerably larger than China's ($19.4tn). Included are Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Brazil and Mexico.
This economic heft gives the coalition enormous leverage to drive a global transition away from fossil fuels. The conference aims to agree on actionable solutions that follow-up meetings can refine for implementation worldwide.
