‘Historic breakthrough’: Colombia climate talks end with hopes raised for fossil fuel phaseout | Climate crisis

Governments have been urged to develop national “road maps” setting out how they will end the production and use of fossil fuels, following a historic climate meeting involving almost 60 countries.

The voluntary plans will form the basis of a new initiative to wean the world off coal, oil and gas, the focus of two days of intensive negotiations in Colombia this week.

The approach marks a departure from annual UN climate negotiations, which have dragged on for more than three decades even as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Most of the world’s largest emitters are absent from the group of 59 participants, although other countries are invited to join.

Irene Vélez Torres, Colombia’s Environment Minister and chair of the negotiations, said: “We have decided not to resign ourselves to an economy based on the destruction of life. We have decided that the abandonment of fossil fuels can no longer remain a slogan but must become a concrete, political and collective effort.”

“When people look back on us from the future, they won’t just remember this conference. They will remember whether or not we met the challenge of our times.”

Colombia and the Netherlands, co-hosts of the inaugural conference on moving away from fossil fuels, hosted discussions on trade, debt, the dependence of producing countries on fossil fuel exports and ways to reduce demand. In previous days, activists, indigenous leaders, scientists and other experts gathered in Santa Marta to discuss the social and economic impacts of fossil fuels and ways to reduce demand.

With the absence of the United States, China, India, Russia and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, participation was limited to countries willing to commit to a phase-out. This “coalition of the willing” represents more than half of global GDP, nearly a third of energy demand and a fifth of fossil fuel supply.

Nearly half of countries are producers of fossil fuels and will have to explain how they intend to gradually reduce their production. However, there are no stipulations on how the plans should be structured, nor on the timelines for completing the transition.

Colombia released a draft roadmap at the conference and set up a scientific group to advise countries. On Tuesday, France became the first developed country to publish a national roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.

Stientje van Veldhoven, Dutch minister for climate and green growth, told the Guardian: “We see the roadmaps as a tool to serve the ambition with which they came here. [to transition away from fossil fuels]. There will be different paces in different countries – we need to take this into account and recognize that countries start from a different position, face different challenges, so there cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution.

While countries are already publishing climate plans under the Paris agreement, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), Vélez said these were not sufficient to serve as roadmaps because they only addressed countries’ domestic greenhouse gas emissions, allowing fossil fuel producers to avoid the climate impact of their exports.

Participants also agreed to support poorer countries by providing the expertise to develop roadmaps, review fossil fuel subsidies, and collaborate on trade policy and financial reform – including helping poor and vulnerable countries tackle debt and raising the finance needed to make the transition.

A second conference will take place early next year on the Pacific island of Tuvalu and will be co-hosted by Ireland. Tuvalu’s Minister of Interior, Climate and Environment, Maina Talia, said: “We encourage governments and states to [to draft roadmaps before the next conference]because if they arrive without concrete roadmaps, we lose an opportunity. But ultimately, they are voluntary.

The Santa Marta conference was driven by frustration with UN climate summits, where consensus rules have often allowed fossil fuel interests to block direct discussions on the need to phase out coal, oil and gas. However, participating governments said they would work closely within the UN system to help achieve global climate progress at the UN Cop31 climate conference in November.

Tzeporah Berman, founder and chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “Santa Marta represents a historic breakthrough – the first time we have brought together a group of nations willing to act. We are building a coalition of ambitious countries eager to lead and break the consensus impasse that has paralyzed any concrete action on fossil fuels in UN negotiations.”

Observers praised the constructive nature of the Santa Marta talks. Fatima Eisam-Eldeen, from the University of Barcelona, ​​said: “For too long, multilateral climate forums have been seen as rooms where everyone talks, but no one understands. Santa Marta broke that pattern. She spoke the language of hope.”

Kirtana Chandrasekaran, climate justice and energy program coordinator at Friends of the Earth International, called on governments to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, given the added impetus given by the current oil crisis.

“[Avoiding climate breakdown] requires a systemic change to the current energy model – moving away from the dominance of fossil fuel-powered corporations and towards bottom-up, decentralized renewable energy that ensures energy sovereignty for all,” she said.