Colombia
recently hosted the first-ever Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil
Fuels in Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast.
Representatives from 57 countries were in attendance. The early part of the
conference claimed that fossil fuels receive $1.2 trillion in subsidies and
“other forms of support” compared to $254 billion for clean energy. That
assertion alone is incorrect, misleading, and shows that the conference is
based on hype and is what geologist and energy expert Scott Tinker would call
factually incomplete. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Kenya, Norway, New
Zealand, and the U.K., as well as the European Union, were represented, but
China, Russia, the UAE, and the U.S. were not invited. The conference seems to
be mainly for climate activists and indigenous peoples allied to them. It is
basically an alternative conference to the COP conferences, which they say do
not do enough to move away from fossil fuels.
According to the conference
organizers:
“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.”
They say it is not a
replacement for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), but complementary to it.
One outcome of the conference
was the urge toward the development of roadmaps by country to end fossil fuel
dependency. The conference mimics some of the IPCC approaches without the
limitations they have.
According to Mongabay:
“The contentious mechanism of investor–state dispute
settlements (ISDS) was one legal obstacle discussed by participants at the
conference. Under the ISDS system, fossil fuel companies and investors can
threaten legal action against governments over climate or energy policies that
they claim harm their businesses.”
Some countries have
opted out of ISDS. Bolivia was the first to do so in 2007. Colombia just
decided to join them.
An article in Latin Times
notes about ISDS:
“While designed to protect against discrimination or
expropriation without compensation, critics say that claims allow
public-interest domestic policies to be challenged in foreign courts.”
The following statement shows
the difficulty and impracticality of demanding a faster transition away from
fossil fuels. Despite the vast investments in clean energy, in the trillions
over the past decade, we still make the vast majority of our primary energy
with fossil fuels.
“Fossil fuels are still the world’s leading energy
source, accounting for 87% of total energy supply. Oil is the most dominant,
meeting 34% of total energy demand.”
Ignacio Arróniz, a senior
associate for the NGO Earth Insight, noted about the conference goals that even
the transition to renewables involves environmental issues:
“As mining operations inevitably expand to meet the
demand for transition minerals, we urgently need guardrails to protect people
and nature from unnecessary harm,” he added. “Santa Marta was a strong
beginning. But the architecture of cooperation needs to grow considerably from
here.”
“Fossil fuel companies are among the most frequent users
of ISDS. By 2023, the sector had secured more than $77 billion in compensation
globally. Claims often include not just sunk investments but projected future
profits, inflating their size to sums that can exceed $1 billion, sometimes
representing a significant share of national budgets.”
I will note that Colombia has
been facing some challenges in supplying oil & gas, which is mainly for
export, including to the U.S. In this light, they have invested in more
drilling as well as maintenance at existing fields to slow declining
production. There have also been some important discoveries offshore Colombia,
mainly by Brazil’s Petrobras. However, Colombia’s current leader, Gustavo
Petro, has put a moratorium on approving new fossil fuel permits. However, according
to Climate Action Tracker:
“Colombia remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels for
fiscal revenue, exports, and investment,” making the transition from fossil
fuels difficult.”
Below are some snippets from
the conference’s final statement:
“…the countries present in Santa Marta still have
structural dependencies to overcome, including fiscal dependencies, debt
constraints, the dependence of the financial architecture on fossil fuels and
the need to enable fossil fuels-free trade systems.”
“Transitioning away from fossil fuels is more than
replacing one energy source with another. It requires broad economic
transformation to overcome structural dependencies, overcome debt constraints,
expand reliable energy access, and support diversified, resilient economies.
This must be planned with workers and communities, ensuring a transition that
is fair, rights-based, and delivers tangible benefits for marginalized groups.”
The conference called for
more taxation of fossil fuels, claiming they were undertaxed. That simply means
they want higher costs for oil, refined fuels, natural gas, and coal so that
renewables can compete better. Consumers don’t want to pay more for the fuel
products they need and use every day. Of course, if fuel prices rise, the cost
of all products rises as well.
There was a scientific
pre-conference. The statement from it below, which recommends banning new
fossil fuel infrastructure, is the same tired approach that threatens fuel and
power shortages wherever it is implemented.
“Take immediate measures to prevent future emissions.
Ban new fossil infrastructure, mandate deep methane cuts, accelerate
electrification and inscribe fossil-fuel phase-down targets in NDCs and
clean-energy pathways support to low and middle income countries.”
Environmental orgs were
optimistic about the conference, especially as it puts their goals at the top
of the agenda. They support the banning of new fossil fuel infrastructure,
which is needed in many places in the world, and support energy access,
economic, and industrial development in developing countries. Trying to make
fossil fuels less profitable does little more than make them more difficult to
produce and more expensive for the nearly 99% of humanity that uses them in
some form.
Ireland and the island nation of Tuvalu are expected to co-host the 2027 conference.
References:
Alternative
climate summit seeks more action on global warming. Pete Dolack. Z Network. May
8, 2026. Alternative climate summit seeks more
action on global warming
Colombia
brings little-known legal mechanism to climate debate at First Conference on
Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels. John Boscawen. Latin America Reports.
Latin Times. May 10, 2026. Colombia brings little-known legal
mechanism to climate debate at First Conference on Transitioning Away from
Fossil Fuels
Fossil
fuel transition summit seeks progress beyond stalled COP talks. Mongabay. May
11, 2026. Fossil fuel transition summit seeks
progress beyond stalled COP talks
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