Governments Gathered For First Conference on Moving Away From Fossil Fuels
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The Netherlands and Colombia just hosted to the world’s first high-level conference dedicated to phasing out oil, gas and coal.
Representatives from 57 countries gathered for the talks that were born out of frustration with the lack of progress that the annual COP summit regularly fails to produce. At COP30 climate summit last November, you may recall that whilst many positive initiatives were agreed, there was disappointment regarding progress on formulating a timeline for phasing out fossil fuels. That was because Saudi Arabia led a group of petrostates in vetoing calls to develop a “roadmap” to phase out fossil fuels globally; indeed, the words “fossil fuels” were not even mentioned in the final text agreed at COP30. Hence the conference in Colombia, titled First International Conference on The Just Transition Away From Fossil Fuels.
As well as the creation of fresh collaborations between countries, a new international scientific panel on the energy transition was announced. Some countries also progressed individual plans to phase out fossil fuels. For example, Colombia and France published a roadmap to remove coal from the grid by 2027, and end dependency on oil fossil gas by 2045 and 2050, respectively.
Energy and environment ministers of governments comprising a “coalition of the willing” shared plans to transition their economies away from oil, gas and coal without leaving workers and communities behind. The secret weapon of the “coalition of the willing” is its potential to function as an economic superpower.
According to Chiara Martinelli of CAN Europe, the gathering "shows that momentum for a fossil fuel phase-out is no longer an abstract concept, it is now politically and socially unavoidable. The political space is expanding rapidly given current geopolitical events, but governments must now translate this into time-bound, science-aligned action to end the fossil fuel era, without delay."
While no “negotiated political outcome” was produced, according to Amnesty International, the Netherlands’ climate minister noted that the conference was meant as “an accelerator of work”. Talks will continue at a second conference held in Tuvalu in 2027.