Santa Marta Conference Closes: 56 Nations Commit to Second Fossil Fuel Exit Summit in Pacific Region

The First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels concluded on April 29, 2026 in Santa Marta, Colombia. The conference produced a framework for a second meeting to be hosted by the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu within one year — a significant diplomatic commitment by one of the countries most threatened by climate change. The 53-country 'highest ambition coalition' finalized demands for a new binding international legal instrument on fossil fuel phase-out, moratoriums on new fossil fuel exploration, equitable transition timelines, and a transition finance mechanism to support developing nations. The conference emerged directly from the failure of COP30 in Belém (November 2025) to include explicit fossil fuel exit language in the final text, and represents a 'coalition of the willing' model of climate diplomacy outside the all-countries UNFCCC consensus framework. Colombia's Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres stated that Global South nations 'must not pay the price of a crisis they did not cause.' The European Parliament's preparatory briefing described the conference as 'a new chapter in climate diplomacy.'