Colombia is seeking to use this year’s first global conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels to launch a permanent platform that would help a “coalition of the willing” accelerate the shift away from planet-heating coal, oil and gas beyond the UN climate process.

The flagship event, due to take place in the Colombian city of Santa Marta on April 28-29, will bring together countries that recognise the urgency of the fossil fuel transition to build the political and financial means to make it viable, Maria Fernanda Torres Penagos, director of climate change in Colombia’s Environment Ministry, told a briefing hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

“Although there is growing consensus to gradually eliminate fossil fuels, there were still no specific spaces or meeting places dedicated to comprehending and addressing the pathways needed to overcome economic, fiscal and social dependence on fossil fuels, especially for producing countries,” she said.

‘Necessary complement’ to UNFCCC

Co-hosted by the Netherlands, the conference will convene governments, experts, industry leaders and Indigenous representatives to map “legal, economic and social pathways” for a just phase-out of fossil fuels. The initiative won public support at COP30 from 24 countries, including major fossil fuel producers Australia and Mexico, alongside several European, Latin American and Pacific island nations.

The event is regarded as an attempt to advance global discussions on transitioning away from fossil fuels alongside the formal UN climate negotiations. Since governments made a broad commitment to do that at the COP28 climate summit in 2023, strong opposition from petrostates has stalled progress on addressing the primary cause of global warming.

Former Irish President and climate justice advocate Mary Robinson told this week’s briefing that the conference is a “necessary complement” to the UN climate regime. “The UNFCCC has been so invaded by the fossil fuel lobby that it is incapable now of including in its outcomes that we must phase out fossil fuels,” she added. “It seems ridiculous, but it is the reality.”

The final agreement struck by governments at COP30 in November failed to mention fossil fuels, despite a coalition of more than 80 countries pushing for it to include a formal process for a global roadmap to phase out coal, oil and gas. As a compromise, the Brazilian COP presidency promised it would coordinate work to create the roadmap outside the UN regime, including by teaming up with the Colombian initiative.

Practical support for developing countries

Torres Penagos said the April summit will produce a series of reports and scientific inputs to identify practical pathways for key stages of the transition. It also aims to establish a permanent international platform to support countries that want to move ahead and “ensure continuity” through future editions of the conference, where more states could join the initial group.

The event’s organisers are expected to produce a chair’s summary that can feed back into the official UN climate talks, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative director Alex Rafalowicz told a Climate Home News webinar last week.

Robinson said that, for the first time, the conference will enable discussions over the fossil fuel transition in a wholehearted, genuine and honest way, while highlighting the importance of justice. She also hopes it will establish a broad coalition of governments, international institutions, business and philanthropies determined to see the end of the fossil fuel era.

Rachel Kyte, the UK’s climate envoy, said fossil fuel-producing countries in the developing world, like Namibia, Guyana and Nigeria, need the international community to help them imagine what the energy transition looks like for them.

“Are we good enough to be practical and supportive and not just stand on our soapbox somewhere and wag our fingers?” she asked during the briefing. “And can we have it be a healing process and not as toxic and divisive as it was in Belém?”

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Colombia aims to launch fossil fuel transition platform at first global conference