Image courtesy of the Fossil Fuel Treaty.
The Santa Marta Conference – Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels – An energetic multi-nation well-organized effort to get off fossil fuels with the underlying motto: “Make Science Great Again”
This article discusses this exciting new approach to hopefully mitigate climate change as well a discussion of the steep difficulty of overcoming the “monumental challenge” already extant.
For example, it’s ironic that a major campaign to hopefully fix climate change (it’s finally happening #1) is initiated at the same moment as carbon sinks worldwide are breaking down (it’s finally happening #2), more on this frightening scenario to follow.
“The first conference on ‘transitioning away’ from fossil fuels was held in Santa Marta, Colombia, from 24-29 April saw 57 countries – representing one-third of the world’s economy – debate practical ways to move away from coal, oil and gas.” (Santa Marta: Key Outcomes from First Summit on ‘Transitioning Away’ From Fossil Fuels, Carbon Brief, April 30, 2026).
As it happens, the bloated planet can finally exhale after decades of stress and consternation and handwringing over its future following repeated failures of thirty (30) COP meetings (UN climate “Conference of the Parties”) to move the needle enough to effectively mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
For example, after 30 years of 50,000 to 100,000 people assembling for two weeks every year to discuss the problems of climate change, principally the result of too much CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, CO2 emissions are at all-time atmospheric highs, blanketing solar radiation heat that would otherwise reflect to outer space. This abnormality relentlessly drives the world thermometer to new highs.
After all, the planet does not want to fall into the trap of one more extinction event like the horrific Permian-Triassic known as “the Great Dying” 252 million years ago when approximately 90% of all species were eliminated. It took millions of years to recover, merging into the rambunctious Jurassic Period, part of the Mesozoic Era aka: Age of Reptiles, from 252 to 66 million years but abruptly disrupted and destroyed by a 12-mile-wide asteroid that hit ground in modern-day Mexico, wiping out approximately 80% of all species, followed by the Cenozoic Era or Age of Mammals with humans emerging out of caves, eyes blinking in bright sunlight, discovering the detritus of millennia in the form of black gold, liquid and easy to light on fire, haunting humanity to this day as Jurassic vomit.
Still, the planet remains very much on edge, in fact, hesitant. The Santa Marta process is young, untested, only a vision on paper, but it holds great promise. At the opening meetings, serious discussions lifted expectations, to wit: “Ministers and envoys from across the world sat side-by-side in small meeting rooms to have open and frank conversations about the barriers they face in transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy. This new format – devised by co-hosts Colombia and the Netherlands – was described as ‘refreshing’, ‘highly successful’ and ‘groundbreaking’ by countries attending the talks.” Ibid.
Direct Action Advocated
“The event also featured a “science pre-conference” attended by 400 global academics, which included the launch of a new science panel that will aim to provide agile and bespoke analysis to nations wanting to accelerate their transition away from fossil fuels,” Ibid.
In a departure from IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports, the preliminary Santa Marta synthesis report offers “very direct guidance to action.” The report lists “12 action insights”, each with “three action recommendations”. The list was cut down from a shortlist of about 40-50 insights.
According to a preliminary scientific report seen by Carbon Brief: The countries attending the fossil-fuel summit have been asked to consider “action recommendations” such as “halting all new fossil-fuel expansion” and “rejecting gas as a bridging fuel.”
The genesis for Santa Marta originated at the UN climate conference COP30 in Belém, Brazil, several months ago, when a group of 80 nations pushed for a “roadmap away from fossil fuels” for inclusion in the final text. When this failed, Colombia and the Netherlands jointly announced a summit to be held in April in Santa Marta.
For the first time in 30 years, a renegade group of countries has been able to break loose from the clutches of a well-organized, procedurally rigged COP conference designed for the benefit of minority interests, i.e., fossil fuel promoters, that have effectively minimized efforts to reduce CO2 emissions for three decades running; still at record high levels after 30 years of hollow jabbering to reduce. This breakaway by the disenchanted is significant.
Renaissance of Science
Moreover, with a sharp slap to the face of orangish American Trumpers, science is once again taking center stage. The Trump administration has pinpointed science as a victim of one of the biggest hatchet jobs to ever visit Washington, D.C.
Whereas the Santa Marta coalition is building a pedestal reaching to the sky towards a sparkling star named: Science. “Colombian environment minister Irene Vélez Torres – herself a former academic – was particularly keen to emphasize the importance of science to the conference, telling journalists: ‘We need to go back to science and base our decisions on science,” Ibid.
A total of 57 countries participated in the conference. It’s an impressive list: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, the EU, the Federated States of Micronesia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malawi, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, México, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, New Zealand, Palau, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovenia, the Solomon Islands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, the UK, Uruguay, Vanuatu, the Vatican and Vietnam.
On the first day, Colombian President Gustavo Petro gave a speech at the summit, telling countries: “What I see is resistance and inertia within the power structures and the economy of this archaic energy system. Today, fossil fuels bring death; undoubtedly, that form of capital could commit suicide, taking humanity and life itself. Humanity cannot allow that,” Ibid.
The Monumental Challenge – Carbon Sinks Breaking Down
Based upon numerous studies of the current rate of climate change, Santa Marta needs to hurry and execute, like yesterday. One example of many: According to a recent YaleEnvironment360 article d/d March 9, 2026: “The Earth is warming at the fastest rate on record as emissions hit new highs and critical carbon sinks break down.”
In fact, “carbon dioxide levels are at the highest point in at least 2 million years. While humans continue to pump ever greater amounts of carbon into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, the ability of the planet to soak up our emissions is weakening. Degraded by fire and drought, forests that were once carbon sinks are now becoming sources of emissions,” Ibid.
Carbon sinks “breaking down” is an alarmingly dangerous development, turning carbon sinks into carbon sources in concert with cars, planes, trains, and industry. e.g. “African Forests Have Become a Source of Carbon Emissions,” YaleEnvironment360 d/d December 1, 2025.
But it’s even worse than that: “The alarming shift, which has happened since 2010, means all of the planet’s three main rainforest regions — the South American Amazon, Southeast Asia, and Africa — have gone from being allies in the fight against climate breakdown to being part of the problem,” Ibid.
This loss of some of the world’s biggest carbon sinks is comparable in scale to a worldwide economic disaster such as the Great Depression, but it’s even worse. And it’s insane. While economic depressions eventually run their course, is it even possible to turn back time to reverse forests back to carbon sinks, once again?
The greatest risk to the world because of this nascent breakdown of nature’s carbon sinks is a surprising takeoff of acceleration of global warming, fast and faster, feeding on itself, blindsiding society in the context of collapsing life supporting ecosystems, e.g., by the end of 2025, approximately 30% of global land was already affected by drought, nearly tripling from the 1990s and drought severity has increased by 40% (Nature, June 2025), or the domino effect triggering tipping points. The house of cards collapses.
Stating the obvious, so bloody obvious that it’s impossible to miss what’s at stake. Santa Marta needs to hurry up and turbo-charge its policy prescriptions, and then, keeping fingers crossed, pray.
