It took almost thirty years before the big culprit was finally identified: it was only in the final declaration of the 28th climate summit in Dubai (2023) that the first tentative call to ‘shift’ the global energy supply was made (transitioning away) of the use of all fossil fuels, and not just coal.
Frustration about this is growing and prompted Colombia last fall to take the lead in organizing its own conference on fossil fuels. Colombia asked the Netherlands as co-organizer. The conference, in the Colombian coastal town of Santa Marta, starts this Friday and lasts until Wednesday. Ministers from participating countries have also been invited for the last two days.
More than fifty countries have now registered for the climate conference in Colombia
1Why a separate conference on fossil fuels, isn’t that what the annual climate summit is for?
Certainly, climate science considers the use of fossil fuels to be by far the leading cause of global warming. That is why it is strange that this has never been negotiated at climate summits. Major oil-producing countries – led by Saudi Arabia – refuse to put the issue on the agenda. It was therefore almost a miracle that in Dubai in 2023, “moving away” from fossil fuels was included in a list of ways in which countries can contribute to “deep, rapid and sustainable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions”. No one knows exactly what ‘moving away’ means. And this was not allowed to be discussed further at the two climate summits after Dubai.
That is now possible in Colombia, but the conference should not become a competitor of the climate summits. There are no negotiations about concrete objectives. The meeting is intended to take stock of how the world can become less dependent on coal, oil and gas. What are the blockages? What help do developing countries need to make their energy systems more sustainable? How can oil-producing countries strengthen their economies if they no longer extract oil (and gas)? Why are fossil fuels still subsidized?
More than fifty countries have now registered. Together they are responsible for 30 percent of global demand for fossil fuels and 20 percent of global production. In addition to national governments, regional governments and individual politicians, climate scientists and economists, indigenous peoples and environmental groups, businesses and trade unions have also been invited to participate. Participants have been screened in advance for any conflicts of interest with the fossil industry.
2Does this conference play no role in the global climate negotiations?
Anyway. Although it is uncertain whether there will be a joint final statement, Colombia and the Netherlands will probably report on the conference at the climate summit in Turkey at the end of the year. If it were up to Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres, it would not stop at this one conference. In return for the website ClimateHome she said: “We need to be honest about the challenges associated with reducing fossil fuel use.” She hopes that the conference can revive the difficult negotiations at climate summits.
Also the countries and civil society organizations behind it Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative are represented at the conference, although not all participating countries supported this initiative, including the Netherlands. The initiative advocates ‘non-proliferation’ of fossil fuels, i.e. a ban on expanding the extraction of coal, oil and gas. A legally binding treaty should help with this.
According to Tzeporah Berman, one of the founders of this initiative, climate summits have completely stalled. “Year after year we see how this impasse delays meaningful action on fossil fuel supplies,” she said in The Guardian. Peter Newell, professor of international relations at the University of Sussex and an advocate of the initiative, hopes the conference will show that there is “no way back”.
André Corrêa do Lago, chairman of last November’s climate summit in Brazil, will use the conference for his global ‘roadmap’ for phasing out fossil fuels. More than eighty countries in Brazil supported the idea of opening the discussion about such a road map, but major oil and gas countries stopped this. Corrêa do Lago then decided to do it themselves. He wants to present his proposal at the climate summit in Turkey.
Colombia cannot afford to wait at all
3Isn’t it strange that host country Colombia produces oil and advocates stopping it?
Antonio Hill of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), an international organization committed to the responsible management of natural resources in developing countries, is not surprised. Colombia’s gas and oil reserves are limited and the costs of extraction are high. “They cannot afford to wait at all,” he recently told Climate Home.
In 2023, Colombia announced an end to issuing new permits for coal and oil extraction. It officially came into effect at the end of last year. It is a bold decision because the production of oil and gas is… according to the IMF accounting for 4 percent of Colombia’s GDP and about 10 percent of tax revenues. The decision, an election promise by left-wing President Gustavo Petro, was met with controversy a lot of resistance. Parliament Speaker Roy Barreras called the energy transition necessary, but not at the pace the government wanted. According to former president Iván Duque, the country committed “political and economic suicide.”
Colombia is therefore further along in reducing fossil dependency than other producers at the conference. Canada has no plans to reduce extraction of its polluting tar sands oil. The Australian government has issued dozens of permits for new coal projects in recent years. Norway believes that it extracts oil and gas in a relatively clean manner and therefore sees no reason to reduce production. Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and Angola even want to increase fossil fuel production.
4Why was the Netherlands asked by Colombia to be co-chairman?
That is less strange than it may seem, even though the invitation came at a time when the Netherlands had one of the least climate-friendly cabinets in its history. In recent years, there has been little evidence of modest ambitions in our own country at climate summits. And Colombia wanted to co-organize the conference with a country from the global North. In addition, at the climate summit in Dubai (2023), the Netherlands launched the initiative for COFFIS, a coalition of now seventeen countries that are committed to phasing out subsidies on fossil fuels (in that year this amounted to more than $1 trillion).
Fossil subsidies are an important theme at the conference. Many countries want to get rid of these subsidies, but in practice this hardly happens. According to Hilde Stroot, who is attending the conference on behalf of OxfamNovib, it is time to finally convert plans into ambitious actions. This applies to the Netherlands, but also to the European Union. “From European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra [Klimaat] “We expect a roadmap in Santa Marta, or at least in the short term, that will shape the phase-out in the EU,” Stroot said.
5Isn’t the energy crisis caused by the war in Iran throwing a spanner in the works?
Just as during the energy crisis that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate risks losing momentum due to the war in Iran. Many countries are inclined to first secure the supply of fossil fuels, if necessary with additional financial support. At the same time, the crisis clearly shows what that means. “Of course we could not have foreseen that a war would break out,” Minister Vélez Torres recently said The Guardian. “But we were already aware of the problems associated with dependence on fossil fuels. This conference comes at the best possible time.”
