Meeting reflects growing frustration with failures of UN climate negotiations
April 29, 2026
High-level talks to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels got underway Tuesday in Colombia’s Caribbean city of Santa Marta, where President Gustavo Petro warned the world could “reach a point of no return” without the Amazon’s role in regulating the climate.
The two-day meeting of ministers and senior officials marks the political centerpiece of the First Conference on Transitioning away from Fossil Fuels, where more than 50 countries, including Canada, have been discussing how to move away from oil, gas and coal — the main drivers of global warming — toward cleaner energy.
“The conclusion is unavoidable: we must transition away from fossil fuels — not just because it’s good for climate, but because it strengthens our energy independence and security,” said Stientje van Veldhoven, the Netherlands’ minister for climate policy and green growth. The Netherlands is co-hosting the conference with Colombia.
The meeting reflects growing frustration among some governments and advocates that decades of UN climate negotiations have failed to directly address fossil fuel production, prompting the Santa Marta summit to push the issue outside formal talks.
But recent roadmaps to actually implement a fossil fuel phaseout — including a draft last week from Colombia and yesterday from France — are breathing life in hopes that this is not just more talking.
“There’s really interesting energy in the room,” said Liz McDowell, senior campaigns director with the environmental advocacy group Stand Earth.
“Starting to see those real signals — countries saying ‘OK, we’re here and we’re making a plan’ — is really exciting.”
Canada’s double role
Recent negotiations have acknowledged the need for a transition, but countries remain divided over how to implement it and how to finance the shift.Canada is the largest oil and gas producer with representation at the conference. McDowell says that presence is good, but more needs to be done to show a serious commitment.
“There are some pretty strong tensions between [being here] and our current domestic policies,” McDowell told CBC News from Santa Marta.
Canada joins first summit focused on moving away from fossil fuels
In the last week, Canada has announced approval for expanding liquefied natural gas, a sovereign wealth fund — which among other things could help oil and gas projects of national interest — and its next budget looks to be cushioned by higher oil prices driven by the Iran war.“The devil is in the details,” cautions José Bravo, executive director of the Just Transition Alliance, a civil society group. He’s concerned that interim solutions to getting off fossil fuels can hide more environmental issues, such as expanding nuclear power and its impacts on some communities.
“I understand wholeheartedly and have been to the Indigenous communities of the Navajo and saw the hundreds of uranium mines that are open, and uranium tailings everywhere,” Bravo described.
“And it’s not the clean energy that most people say it is.”
Colombian president warns Amazon at tipping point
Speaking in the afternoon, Petro warned that “the Amazon rainforest is burning,” adding that “without it we reach a point of no return.”The leftist leader questioned the global economic model underpinning fossil fuel use, asking whether “capitalism can really adapt to a way of life that is not fossil-based.” He said UN climate talks have fallen short, arguing that “the unity of states has failed” and calling for broader action beyond governments.
Petro also linked current conflicts to energy dependence, saying “the wars we are seeing are driven by desperate geopolitical strategies around fossil resources.”
The effective shutdown of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has caused the ‘biggest energy security threat in history,’ says Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. Ryan Cummings of the Stanford Institute for Economy Policymaking says the closure so far is the equivalent of a billion barrels of oil missing from the economy.
Colombia’s Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said in opening comments before Petro’s address that the conflict in the Middle East has revealed that “we are not only dealing with a climate and environmental crisis, but also an economic and national security crisis.”
Petro has positioned Colombia as a leading voice calling for a global shift away from fossil fuels while pushing for a gradual transition at home that balances climate goals with economic realities.
A key moment for international co-operation
Outside the conference venue in the morning, members of a mining union protested against Petro and the event, chanting through megaphones and holding signs that read: “I arrive at the conference by plane to criticize the oil industry,” “More oil, less Petro,” and “Defend your oil barrels.”With elections a month away, Petro has kept the pledge he made after taking office to halt new oil and gas exploration and steer the country toward a post-fossil fuel economy, even as the Andean nation remains heavily dependent on oil and coal exports.
Vélez Torres framed the gathering as a key moment for international co-operation.
“Let this conference be the moment when ambition becomes solidarity and when co-operation becomes the path toward a future beyond fossil fuels,” she said Tuesday morning. “Let’s make this a turning point in history.”
Yuvelis Morales Blanco, a 25-year-old activist from Puerto Wilches, Colombia, spoke at the opening plenary and called for urgent action and a transition rooted in communities.
“We are called to make real the world we have imagined,” she said. She urged governments to take “direct and concrete actions” to move away from fossil fuels and protect nature. “We demand energy justice, climate justice and justice for youth and children.”
Discussions in Santa Marta so far have highlighted the central challenge of funding the transition, particularly for developing countries facing high borrowing costs and limited access to capital.
Van Veldhoven of the Netherlands said access to affordable financing would be critical to ensuring the transition can happen globally, particularly for developing countries facing high debt and limited fiscal space.
Rich countries have finally hit their $100B US climate finance goal, Guilbeault says
Participants have also debated the role of policy tools such as carbon markets and government subsidies, as well as how to ensure the transition does not repeat patterns of land use and resource exploitation that have harmed communities in the past.Organizers say the conference will not produce binding agreements, but is intended to build political momentum and bring together countries willing to accelerate the transition outside the formal UN process. It is also seen as a stepping stone toward upcoming global climate negotiations, where financing and timelines for reducing fossil fuel use are expected to remain key points of debate.
Simon Kofe, Tuvalu’s minister of foreign affairs, reflects on his address at COP27 on the nation’s plans to create a digital replica of itself as rising seas threaten its very existence.
On Monday, Tuvalu, a tiny, low-lying Polynesian island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, announced it will host the next conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. Small island nations are highly vulnerable to climate change. Scientists and the UN say Tuvalu could be submerged by 2100 because of rising sea levels.“The fact that countries are here in and of itself and … that they are going to meet again — that is a win in my books,” McDowell said.
Source: Associated Press via CBC News
See also
Takeaways from the first conference focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels | AP News
Colombia climate conference highlights challenges to shift from fossil fuels | AP News