Santa Marta Conference Marks Historic Coalition to Phase Out Fossil Fuels

From 24 to 29 April 2026, 57 countries gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels. Co-sponsored by Colombia and the Netherlands, the “coalition of the willing” pledged to phase out coal, oil and gas through voluntary national plans. France, for example, set targets to eliminate coal by 2027, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050. The coalition’s combined gross domestic product of $38.5 trillion exceeds that of the United States ($32.4 trillion) and is nearly twice China’s ($20.9 trillion). Its members account for roughly 30 % of global fossil-fuel consumption.

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Previous UN climate summits have been constrained by consensus rules that allow a few petro-states to block progress; at COP30, Saudi Arabia led a bloc that halted a proposal from 85 countries to draft a global fossil-fuel phase-out roadmap. The Santa Marta conference was organized outside the UN system, inviting only participants that had already signaled commitment, thereby excluding the United States and China. The meeting coincided with the Iran war, which has restricted oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz and driven up global oil and gas prices, intensifying calls for a rapid shift to renewables.

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• Coalition GDP: $38.5 trillion (largest economic bloc on Earth).

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• Share of global fossil-fuel consumption: ~30 %.

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• Member states include Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Spain, California (the world’s fifth-largest economy), the Netherlands and Colombia.

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• France’s phase-out timeline: coal 2027, oil 2045, gas 2050.

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Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the Iran war “broke global energy markets beyond repair” and warned of “permanent consequences” for the fossil-fuel industry, noting that countries will increasingly turn to renewable electricity for transport and other sectors. Colombia’s environment minister Irene Velez Torres stressed that “energy sovereignty” and climate survival demand a shift to alternative energy sources. Dutch environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven explained that short-term gas needs, heightened by supply disruptions, illustrate the “very difficult issues” of disentangling from fossil fuels. UK climate representative Rachel Kyte emphasized that the conference focused on sharing practical lessons rather than negotiating documents.

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The coalition’s exclusion of the United States and China drew criticism for omitting two of the world’s largest emitters. Simultaneously, the Netherlands approved plans to increase offshore gas production, highlighting a tension between pledges and ongoing fossil-fuel projects. Observers note that such contradictions may limit the coalition’s ability to achieve its stated phase-out goals.

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• “The damage is done,” — Fatih Birol, International Energy Agency

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• “Our energy sovereignty as well as our climate survival require moving to other energy sources,” — Irene Velez Torres, Environment Minister, Colombia

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• “It’s about finding fellow travelers and learning from them — what’s working, what isn’t?” — Rachel Kyte, UK Special Representative for Climate

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• “disentangle their economies and societies” — Stientje van Veldhoven, Minister of the Environment and Housing, The Netherlands

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• “It is the beginning of a new global climate democracy.” — Irene Velez Torres, Environment Minister, Colombia

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Each coalition member will draft a voluntary national plan to reduce fossil-fuel use, with progress to be reviewed at future gatherings of the “coalition of the willing.” The International Energy Agency expects the shift toward renewables to accelerate as market conditions evolve.

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