The most important conference you’ve never heard of. The first international conference on phasing out fossil fuels begins this week!

This April, after decades of denial and delay, the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels is going to take place in Santa Marta, Colombia. This is a huge deal!

This article will explain:

1. What the Conference is for & how it differs from COPs 
2. Why it matters
3. How YOU can have an impact

At this point, the writing has been on the wall for the fossil fuel industry for some time. The climate crisis is in full swing and it will only get worse unless we take urgent action to curb emissions, and create more sustainable ways of living. It is widely agreed that fossil fuel emissions need to be reduced, and it is widely acknowledged – with mind-bogglingly little committed governmental follow through – that it would be better to make these reductions sooner rather than later and that we need a global just transition (one that is worker led and leaves no one behind) to more sustainable, renewable energy systems.

Yet, for 30 years COPs and international climate negotiations have focused on managing the symptoms of the climate crisis, and attempts to meaningfully address its root cause – burning fossil fuels – have been obstructed. At the last COP, COP30, fossil fuels were not even directly mentioned in the final outcome. 

This is why it is so exciting that from 24th to the 29th April, for the first time, international governments will meet exclusively to address the subject of fossil fuels and the long overdue global plan to transition away from them.

 1) What is the Conference about/for?

So, what is the Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels? 

• It is a “sustained political platform for countries ready to deliver implementation-driven action toward an orderly phase-out of fossil fuels” – i.e. an international space to discuss and plan a concrete and progressive pathway away from fossil fuel dependency, based on expert advice and key stakeholder participation (Transition Away Conference, 2026).
• It is intended to be the first in a series of Conferences focused on planning and implementing a just transition. 
• The Conference is not a replacement for the UNFCCC, the COP30 roadmap, or the negotiation space for a new fossil fuel treaty. Rather it will be a complementary space to the UNFCCC and COPs, a space to make contributions and supplementations that will accelerate the COP30 Presidency’s roadmap and its practical delivery. 
• It will be an opportunity for horizontal dialogue, and deeper democratic participation for states, subnational governments, civil society and other stakeholders.

What is the objective of the Conference? 

“The objective of the Conference is to initiate a concrete process through which a coalition of committed countries, subnational governments, and relevant stakeholders can identify and advance enabling pathways to implement a progressive transition away from fossil fuels creating sustainable societies and economies. This process will be informed by the experience and perspectives of national and subnational governments, academia, Indigenous Peoples, Peoples of African Descent, peasants, civil society, workers, the private sector, and other key actors at different stages of the transition” (Transition Away Conference, 2026).

The Conference will produce a report identifying pathways for implementation of a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels and this will inform negotiations at the next COP as well as feeding into the COP30 Presidencies roadmap.

The Conference will focus on three main pillars: 

1. Overcoming economic dependence on fossil fuels
2. Transforming supply and demand
3. Advancing international cooperation and climate diplomacy

Over the last few months, governments and other stakeholders have had the opportunity to engage and contribute to the technical and political discussions planned for Santa Marta. 98 national governments were invited to participate alongside 30 subnational governments. 2,608 organisations expressed interest in engaging with the Conference process as well.

This Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels is intended to be the first in a series of dedicated conferences agreed to by the 18 states that have been working to develop a Fossil Fuel Treaty. Since its announcement, 54 states have confirmed their attendance at the Conference, but several of the world’s largest economic powers will be missing: the USA, China, India, Russia and Gulf states. Irene Vélez Torres, Colombia’s environment minister, has emphasised this is fine, that this Conference is not a place for naysayers or delay, only action: “We are not going to have boycotters or climate denialists at the table,” Vélez has said. 

While operating as a supplementary parallel space to the official COP infrastructure, the Conference is intended to be a specifically solutions-focused space, somewhat distinct from previous iterations of international climate negotiations.

And there’s a real opportunity for change and progress in Santa Marta because, unlike at COPs, decisions will not be made by consensus. Consensus decision making requires all parties to assent to an outcome for it to proceed – this enables low-ambition states and blocs of states to stall progressive action indefinitely. By contrast, the Conference in Santa Marta represents the opportunity for high-ambition stakeholders and states to form blocs, bypass consensus based deadlocks, and negotiate impactful treaties to phase out fossil fuels. Just as states like Austria and Canada led the way to securing the Ottawa Treaty (banning anti-personnel landmines), Colombia and the Netherlands could pave the way to establishing legally binding global rules, and unlocking the funds to finance the transition, without waiting for universal consent.

2) Why this matters

This Conference matters because successfully and equitably transitioning away from our fossil fuel dependency is a matter of life and death for literally billions of people. 

Every fraction of a degree of warming we can prevent will save hundreds of thousands of lives – and since fossil fuels currently supply about 80% of the world’s energy, with fossil fuels and industry accounting for 89% of global CO2 emissions (as of 2018), increasing our renewable energy infrastructure and transitioning from fossil fuel dependency is a huge step towards lowering global emissions and decelerating the rate of warming.

We should, and must, continue to limit warming to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels as set out in the Paris Agreement. Despite already seeing over 1 degree of warming at repeated levels, the aim for 1.5 degrees budgeted for an overshoot and reversal, so hope is not yet lost. Should we fail to decelerate rising temperatures owing to runaway carbon emissions however, the impacts are hard to over exaggerate. 

This is why the Conference was proposed by Colombia and the Netherlands at COP30. Despite high hopes in Belem (with more than 80 countries backing the Brazilian proposal for a formal roadmap to phase out fossil fuels) in the final hours of talks, explicit references to a phase out were removed. The adopted text references only the ‘UAE Consensus’ (the COP28 decision which called for a ‘transition away from fossil fuels’). Given the disappointing vagueness of the official report, 25 states created and signed a Belém Declaration on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, demanding an acceleration of efforts towards an equitable transition. And when Colombia and the Netherlands announced they would facilitate this fossil fuel focused conference, it was quickly endorsed by a broad coalition of countries, including all 25 signatories of the Belem Declaration.

Whatsmore, the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels couldn’t come at a more poignant time. 

Trump and Israel’s illegal war in Iran has put our global oil dependency under an international spotlight. Not only are fuel and energy costs on the rise, but as shipping transit has dropped by over 95% through the Strait of Hormuz, global fertiliser supply has been seriously disrupted and global food insecurity is increasing too. The World Food Programme has warned that 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger if the conflict persists. 

Yet, as millions of people around the world feel the cost of this war, oil and gas companies are raking in record-breaking profits. The Guardian has reported that oil and gas companies ‘will make $234bn by the end of the year if the oil price continues to average $100’ on the basis of data collected by Rystad Energy and analysed by Global Witness (Carrington, 2026). In no universe is this sustainable. Energy affordability and food security – essentially the pillars of life – cannot be dependent on the whims of tyrants, corporate execs, and warmongers. We urgently need to implement scalable and rapid renewable, nationally-owned and community-owned energy alternatives – Santa Marta could create the international legal instrument to ensure this is possible.

The timing also feels especially important as, around the world the rise of the far right is built on, and advancing, an anti-climate and pro-fossil fuel agenda. Anyone tuned into the climate movement can feel it, the descent of climate action on governmental priority lists, an unsettling rise in hostility to ‘net zero’ and ‘sustainability’ in public opinion – ideas that just a few years ago were generally agreed as positive. This is why a consolidated international alliance to drive uncompromisingly ambitious action through a Conference process and establish a legally binding international instrument to secure a just transition is so crucial. Fascism is terrifying, fascism plus climate collapse is unthinkable. Over the last 10 years we have already witnessed an alarming crackdown on climate protest, and as right wing parties win election campaign after election campaign across Europe, we can expect the trend to continue. OpenDemocracy has reported that the thinktank, Policy Exchange, who inspired the UK’s protest-limiting Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act, has received large donations from oil companies such as ExxonMobil. In creating an international, enforceable plan to move away from fossil fuels, and diminish international oil and gas dependency, there is the potential to defang the lobbying might that oil and gas companies currently hold over governments worldwide.

Indeed, the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, ruled last year that “States have obligations under multiple sources of international law to prevent climate harm and protect the climate system”, yet, across the world fossil fuel expansionism continues, and global temperatures rise. The ICJ  also affirmed that States are obliged to take action to address the primary driver of climate change: fossil fuels. Santa Marta is an important opportunity for states to discuss, and hear expert opinions on, what that action could and should look like. 

The Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has highlighted several issues that attending states must try to tackle at the Conference and include in any outputs, especially relating to pillar 3: International Cooperation and climate diplomacy, to plug gaps in climate governance and implementation. These include:

• The elimination of mechanisms like Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) that allow fossil fuel companies to demand compensation when governments take climate action, making it prohibitive for some countries to comply with their phaseout obligations.
• Ending new fossil fuel licensing and public subsidies;
• Addressing petrochemicals used for products like plastics and ammonia;
• Rejecting dangerous distractions like carbon capture, offsets, and geoengineering, which only prolong the fossil fuel era and introduce new risks 

Santa Marta is important therefore as it is the chance to develop a clear and deliverable fossil fuel phase out plan.. One that could be feasibly implemented, and urgently.  Whatever is achieved at Santa Marta will lay the groundwork for the Second Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels to be hosted in Tuvalu within the next year. Hopefully, in Tuvalu, a formal mandate to negotiate a binding Fossil Fuel Treaty will be secured.

3) How you can have an impact

There are lots of ways to make your voice heard as a climate activist to demand the phase out of fossil fuels, around this Conference and more generally.

Here’s how you can directly demand ambition at this groundbreaking international Conference, and get involved in spreading awareness of its importance!

1. Demand representation – write to your national Climate minister, and ask them to attend the Conference in Santa Marta and participate in negotiations.
2. Amplify the Conference – attend a satellite event near you! While states and stakeholders meet in Colombia, over a 1000 satellite mini-conferences, protests, strategy workshops, vigils, mass virtual meetings and local group meetings have been coordinated. Find your nearest action – or organise/host your own if nothing is planned near you!
3. Demand no new oil and gas in your country – the first step to phasing out fossil fuels is stopping new licenses being granted. Wherever you are, support campaigns against fossil fuel expansion around the world, from Stop EACOP to Stop Rosebank.
4. Support initiatives for community owned energy – to reduce oil and gas dependency we need viable alternatives! If energy is renewable and community-owned prices will not be subject to profit-hungry corporations or liable to spiking due to volatile international markets if tyrants begin illegal wars.

Be Curious 

• Read more about the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels.
• Follow the news from Santa Marta as the Conference unfolds
• Attend a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing that environment campaigner Chris Packham has created to drive more ambitious climate action in the UK.
• Join a satellite action for the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels near you.

Featured image by J@YGS, via flickr.

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