Fifty-seven countries, over 2,600 accredited participants, zero lobbyists from major oil companies. The first International Conference for the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels closed on 29 April in Santa Marta, Colombia, with five concrete outcomes and three working groups open until 2027. It is not, for now, a binding treaty — that remains the horizon for the next stage — but something rarer in the climate of international diplomacy: a shared action plan endorsed by a coalition representing roughly one third of global GDP and global oil consumption. "The future is without fossil fuels, both in energy and in politics," declared Colombia's Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres as she closed proceedings, which had been strongly championed by the government in Bogotá, together with that of the Netherlands. A statement that, in a context where fossil fuels still account for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, sounds far from obvious.

Irene Vélez-Torres ✓ @IreneVelezT

𝕏

Finalizó la Primera Conferencia para la Transición #MásAlláDeLosCombustiblesFósiles con resultados concretos.

Lanzamos el Panel Científico Asesor para la Transición Energética Global y definimos tres líneas de trabajo:

1️⃣ Diseñar hojas de ruta para la transición hacia la

♥ 233💬 17 30 apr 2026 · Apri su X →

What was worked on at Santa Marta

The Santa Marta conference structured its work around three thematic areas, which will become as many operational working groups ahead of the next conference in 2027: the main focuses were reducing economic dependence on fossil fuels, the energy transition proper, and strengthening international cooperation towards decarbonisation.

Reducing economic dependence on fossil fuels

The central problem that none of the 30 COPs held so far has ever tackled head-on: the fiscal dependence — not merely energetic — of many governments, both producers and importers, on revenues from oil, gas and coal. Participants discussed concrete instruments: debt-for-climate swaps (financial agreements in which a creditor cancels or reduces part of a developing country's external debt, in exchange for that country's commitment to invest in climate adaptation, mitigation or nature conservation projects), subsidy reform with targeted transfers to vulnerable groups, and revision of credit-rating methodologies so as not to penalise upfront investments in the transition. It emerged clearly that dependence on fossil fuels is not merely an energy problem: it is a structural transformation of the economy that requires an integrated approach across finance, energy and environment ministries. All of this on a nation-by-nation basis: each country will have to draw up its own action plan according to its own possibilities and resources.

Transforming energy supply and demand

Global installed renewable energy capacity in 2025 is almost 50 per cent higher than in 2023 (from 510 to 750 GW), and almost all new global energy demand is now being met by renewables. Investment in the transition reached a record 2.4 trillion dollars in 2024, more than double the 2019 figure. The sticking point, according to the conference conclusions, is therefore no longer technological: it is how to manage the planned wind-down of fossil fuel extraction while simultaneously guaranteeing energy security, energy access for rural communities and protection of workers. The just transition for workers, participants reiterated, is not merely about professional retraining: it is about the active participation of workers in the decision-making process.

Fundación Vida Sostenible @fvidasostenible

𝕏

La I Conferencia Internacional para la Transición más allá de los Combustibles Fósiles, celebrada en Santa Marta (Colombia), marca un primer paso hacia una coalición global de países dispuestos a planificar una transición de los combustibles fósiles.

alianzaporelclima.org/2026/04/30/la-…

♥ 3 4 mag 2026 · Apri su X →

Strengthening international cooperation

75 per cent of the world depends on fossil fuel imports: the conflict that disrupted the Strait of Hormuz made starkly clear, in the very days of the conference, the urgency of reducing this exposure. Participants discussed new governance instruments — from Special Drawing Rights to country platforms for aligning public and private investment — and the link with COP negotiations, with the aim of channelling the outcomes of Santa Marta into the second Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement.

The targets for 2030, 2045 and 2050

Five formal outcomes have emerged from the Santa Marta conference. The most important is the confirmation of a continuing process: the second conference is announced for 2027 and will be co-hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland. The choice of Tuvalu is no accident: this Polynesian archipelago of 10,000 inhabitants spread across nine atolls covering a total of 26 square kilometres is physically threatened by sea-level rise (NASA calculates +15 centimetres over thirty years, with half the archipelago at risk of submersion by 2050). "This is not a negotiating position. For us it is a matter of survival," said Tuvalu's Climate Minister, Maina Talia.

Also launched is the Science Panel for the Global Energy Transition (SPGET): more than 500 scientists, economists and technologists who will produce annual contributions through to 2035 to build national roadmaps aligned with the 1.5°C trajectory and remove the legal, financial and political barriers to the transition. With explicit attention to the involvement of researchers from the Global South. France offered one of the most concrete contributions at Santa Marta: a national roadmap with exit from coal by 2030, from oil by 2045 and from gas by 2050.

The conference's final report will be delivered to the COP30 presidency, presented at the intersessional sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn in June, and then in London and New York during their respective Climate Weeks. The question of a binding treaty — the original objective that had animated the promoters, including the hundred Nobel laureates and scientists who in 2020 had launched the idea of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty — remains open. Alexandre Naulot, the initiative's European director, said he was optimistic that Tuvalu would place this objective at the heart of 2027, with the seventeen countries already engaged in the negotiating process.

The thorn in the side: who wasn't there

The Santa Marta coalition is significant. But the major emitters – above all the United States, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia – were absent or only marginally present. The composition of government delegations reflected this imbalance: around 30 per cent of governments came from Europe, 20 per cent from Latin America and the Caribbean, 16 per cent from Africa, 12 per cent from Asia. A process that starts from the Global South and the periphery of the fossil system, seeking to drag towards change even those who still refuse to let go of fossil fuels. "At a moment when global cooperation appears so fragile, Santa Marta bucked the trend," summarised Manuel Pulgar Vidal, WWF's global climate lead and former president of COP20. "Hope has turned into momentum. Let us work together to turn this small wave into a surge of action." Whether this momentum proves a small wave or a positive tsunami, we may find out in Tuvalu – before it is too late.