The idea for a specific fossil fuel transition conference first emerged during tense end-game negotiations at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil in November 2025. That summit was held from April 24-29 in Santa Marta, Colombia, co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands with 57 countries participating. Attendance was limited to countries willing to commit to a phaseout.
Delegates adopted three workstreams to organize efforts before the next conference in Tuvalu in 2027: one for designing roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels that will also address supply side issues; one for addressing macroeconomic dependencies and financial architecture to innovate a financial system that can support the transition; and one for building fossil fuel free trade systems.
- Rev. Sharon Delgado has written a reflection on the Fossil Free UMC blog Santa Marta Conference: Envisioning the Transformation of the World where she urges United Methodists support the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.
- Rev. Dr. Becca Edwards from Church and Society also has a reflection A Telos Moment for Energy.
Here are some other links:
- Fossil Fuel Transition Conference website.
- The Guardian has an article (that can be freely read) entitled ‘Historic breakthrough’: Colombia climate talks end with hopes raised for fossil fuel phaseout.
- Carbon Brief have an article entitled Santa Marta: Key outcomes from first summit on ‘transitioning away’ from fossil fuels.
- The International Institute for Sustainable Developmentlists the outcomes from the final day.