It is high time for the world to address the root cause of climate change – fossil fuels - and how to phase them out. In the end of April, the first international diplomatic conference dedicated specifically to fossil fuel transition is finally taking place. This can be exactly what we need in a world struggling with climate disasters and the energy crisis that the war for oil has led to.

The war in the Gulf area is crashing the global economy. The oil is stuck in the Strait of Hormuz and fossil fuel production is hit by missiles. We are recognizing patterns from the oil crisis in the 1970´s. This adds the economy and security aspect to the climate urgency to phase out fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels have only recently appeared explicitly on the agenda of multilateral climate negotiations. But is still in fine print and with no distinct results. But countries and stakeholders are now increasingly recognizing that effectively addressing the climate crisis and remaining within the 1.5°C pathway requires action on the root cause: the extraction, production and use of coal, oil and gas.

The host is a major fossil producer

Now there is action on the way: The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels will take place on 24–29 April 2026 in Santa Marta, Colombia. It is an extraordinary event for many reasons, one of them being that the host city is a major coal-exporting port in the world’s fifth-largest coal-producing country.

Co-hosted by the Governments of Colombia and the Netherlands, it will be the first time governments convene a major international summit specifically dedicated to planning the phase-out of fossil fuels. Designed as a landmark convening with a clear forward trajectory, the Santa Marta Conference is intended to launch an ongoing international process, building toward Pacific countries hosting a subsequent summit to carry forward its outcomes. It is also aiming to help develop a shared roadmap for the global transition away from fossil fuels.

The conference will bring together governments, experts, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant communities, civil society, climate advocates, industry leaders, and academia to create a strategic space for shaping equitable pathways toward sustainable, diversified, and accessible energy systems.

45 countries confirmed

The Acting Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Irene Vélez Torres “President Gustavo Petro has called on the world to take a historic step: to move toward a transition away from fossil fuels. Today, 45 countries have already confirmed their participation in the Conference, and 2,608 organizations and communities have joined this call, participating as of now in the Virtual Dialogues organized by sector and population group,” the minister said.

The European Commission and the presidencies of COP30 and COP31 will also participate. This broad representation underscores the diversity of perspectives and the global scope of the dialogue that will take place in Santa Marta. It brings together not only countries highly vulnerable to the climate crisis—such as the island nations of Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Palau—but also hydrocarbon-producing nations from various regions of the world, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Australia.

Its focus is on advancing international cooperation for a planned, just, and 1.5°C-aligned transition away from fossil fuels, reinforcing the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The conference will address managing the transition away from fossil fuels while transitioning energy systems, expanding alternative sources of power, safely decommissioning existing infrastructure, and ensuring that workers, communities and fossil-fuel-dependent economies are supported requires unprecedented levels of international cooperation.

The Conference is not a UNFCCC meeting; it is rather a parallel process to the global climate talks. It will contribute to the COP efforts and fast-track implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Global Stocktake decision to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

The support for a fossil fuel phase out is increasing rapidly. At COP30 in Brazil 80 countries expressed support to a roadmap track to phase out fossil fuels and a group of 18 Global South nations reinforced their support for the development of a Fossil Fuel Treaty. The Treaty proposal is also backed by a global movement of almost 200 cities, the WHO, the European Parliament, 3000 academics, 101 Nobel Laureates, 4000 civil society organisations, 37 Indigenous Nations and communities, thousands of health professionals and faith leaders, as well as 1million individuals.

Tzeporah Berman, Chair and Co-Founder of the Fossil Fuel Treaty initiative:
“After thirty years of avoiding the root cause of climate change, the Santa Marta Conference finally opens the door to an honest global discussion on phasing out fossil fuels. This conference is the spark, and the Fossil Fuel Treaty is the essential legal vehicle we desperately need. Recent conflicts confirm that reliance on fossil fuels causes not just climate chaos, but also war and economic instability. While the Paris Agreement and the new COP30 Roadmap provide vital voluntary frameworks, only a binding treaty addressing this common root cause can transform commitments from a wish list into a mandatory, enforceable reality. This is our historic opportunity to stop negotiating the symptoms and start negotiating a Fossil Fuel Treaty.”

The COP30 Presidency explicitly expressed its support for the First International Conference for the Phase Out of Fossil Fuels during the final COP30 plenary. Additionally, Colombia has been clear that this effort is conceived as complementary, not competitive, with the UNFCCC—a position which is shared by the Netherlands.

The root cause addressed

The Conference intends to create a dedicated space to address issues the UN climate process has struggled to operationalize, due to two main reasons: first because the UNFCCC focuses on reducing CO2 emissions ーand not on their root cause which is fossil fuel extractionー, and second because of its consensus-based nature, both leading to a lack of a concrete proposal for an equitable framework enabling developing countries to phase out fossil fuels.

The Santa Marta conference represents an important diplomatic moment to advance fossil fuel phase-out solutions and it will help achieve the goals of the UNFCC Paris agreement, as well as the COP30 Roadmap track initiated by the COP30 President. It provides an opportunity to keep increasing the coalition of nations committed to the development of a Fossil Fuel Treaty. Even if Santa Marta not will be the place where a Fossil Fuel Treaty will be negotiated, it could be a critical forum to help spark negotiations, similar to how the Ottawa Conference helped initiate the negotiation of the Mine Ban Treaty that phased out landmines.

The climate focused media channel We Don´t Have Time has been granted the status as the official media partner for the conference and will host daily broadcasts to share what is happening in Santa Marta with a global audience and also share the solutions that the companies present at the conference that can facilitate the phasing out of fossil fuels.

The Santa Marta Conference represents a pivotal opportunity to confront the intertwined crises we experience— all rooted in the same fossil-fueled system. It offers a concrete pathway to revive multilateral cooperation, restore international norms, and accelerate a global just transition away from fossil fuels as a foundation for peace, stability, and the protection of life.

This can be the beginning of the end for fossil fuels.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com