Global Commitment to Fossil Fuel Phaseout Roadmaps
Nearly 60 countries have endorsed voluntary national "roadmaps" outlining plans to end the production and use of fossil fuels. This initiative emerged from a conference held in Colombia, aiming to establish a foundation for a global transition away from coal, oil, and gas.
The voluntary roadmaps will serve as the cornerstone of a new coalition, which was the focus of two days of intensive discussions in Colombia this week. This approach represents a significant shift from the traditional annual UN climate negotiations, which have persisted for over 30 years despite rising greenhouse gas emissions. Notably, many of the world's largest emitters were absent from the group of 59 signatories, although other countries are invited to join.
Irene Vélez Torres, Colombia’s environment minister and chair of the talks, stated: "We decided not to resign ourselves to an economy built on the destruction of life. We decided that the transition away from fossil fuels could no longer remain a slogan but must become a concrete, political and collective endeavour.
When people look back on us from the future, they will not remember only this conference. They will remember whether or not we rose to the challenge of our time."
Colombia and the Netherlands, co-hosts of the inaugural conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, facilitated discussions on trade, the dependence of producer countries on fossil fuel exports, and strategies to reduce demand. Prior to the conference, activists, Indigenous leaders, scientists, and other experts convened in Santa Marta to explore the climate impacts of fossil fuel production and demand reduction methods.
With major emitters such as the US, China, India, Russia, and petrostates including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates absent, attendance was limited to countries willing to commit to a phaseout. This "coalition of the willing" accounts for over half of global GDP, nearly one-third of energy demand, and one-fifth of fossil fuel supply.
Almost half of the participating countries are fossil fuel producers and are expected to outline how they plan to reduce output. However, there are no uniform requirements regarding the structure of these plans or deadlines for completing the transition.
During the conference, Colombia released a draft roadmap and the Netherlands became the first developed country to publish a national roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.
Stientje van Veldhoven, the Netherlands’ minister for climate and green growth, told : "We see the roadmaps as the tool for the ambition with which they came here [to transition away from fossil fuels]. There will be different speeds between countries – we should allow for this and acknowledge that countries start from a different position, have different challenges, so that it cannot be one size fits all."
Although countries already submit climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), Vélez noted these are insufficient to serve as roadmaps because they focus only on domestic greenhouse gas emissions, allowing fossil fuel producers to avoid addressing the climate impact of their exports.
Participants also agreed to support poorer countries by providing expertise to develop roadmaps, to collaborate on trade policy and financial reform—including assisting vulnerable countries with debt management and securing the finance needed for the transition.
A second conference is scheduled for early next year on the Pacific island of Tuvalu, co-hosted by Ireland.
Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s minister for home affairs, climate and environment, said: "We are encouraging governments and states [to draft roadmaps before the next conference], because if they come without concrete roadmaps, we are losing an opportunity. But, at the end of the day, they are voluntary."
Context and Challenges
The Santa Marta conference was convened due to frustration with the UN climate summits, where consensus rules have often allowed some countries to block direct discussions on the need to phase out coal, oil, and gas. Nevertheless, participating governments have expressed their intention to work closely within the UN system to advance global climate progress at the COP28 UN climate conference in November.
Tzeporah Berman, the founder and chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: "Santa Marta represents a historic breakthrough – the first time we bring together a group of nations willing to act. We are building a coalition of ambitious countries willing to lead and break the consensus deadlock that has paralysed concrete action on fossil fuels in the UN negotiations."
Participants praised the constructive nature of the Santa Marta talks.
Fatima Eisam-Eldeen, of the Leave It in the Ground Initiative, said: "For too long, multilateral climate forums have felt like rooms where everyone speaks, but no one understands. Santa Marta broke that pattern. It spoke the language of hope."
Kirtana Chandrasekaran, climate justice and energy programme co-coordinator at Friends of the Earth International, emphasized the need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, given the urgency of the climate crisis.
"[Avoiding climate breakdown] requires systemic change to the current energy model – away from fossil fuelled corporate dominance and towards bottom-up, decentralised renewables that ensure energy sovereignty for all," she said.
Many small island states, despite contributing negligible amounts of global greenhouse gases, are on the frontline of the climate crisis, facing devastating impacts such as hurricanes and rising sea levels.
