Colombia Hosts Fossil-Fuel Exit Talks as Global Energy Crisis Deepens

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, left, and Gustavo Petro, Colombia's president, during the COP30 Leaders Summit in Belém, Brazil, on Nov. 6, 2025. Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg Photo by Dado Galdieri /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Just across the road from the site of the first international conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, or TAFF, oil tankers routinely unload at the Pozos Colorados terminal, home to Colombia’s largest fuel-storage tank.

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The tension between climate ambitions and fossil-fuel dependency lies at the heart of the meeting, which begins Friday in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta. It has drawn over 50 countries — from oil producers such as Nigeria to big consumers like Germany — and the European Union in a bid to break the stalemate of United Nations climate talks.

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The gathering reflects mounting impatience with the slow pace of global negotiations. Countries first agreed at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 to “transition away from fossil fuels,” but made little progress on how to do it. At last year’s COP30, held in Brazil, a proposed road map to phase out oil, gas and coal drew backing from about 80 countries, but was dropped from the final document due to lack of consensus, angering many delegates.

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That frustration helped spur Colombia and the Netherlands to gather a “coalition of the willing” in Santa Marta. The effort has gained momentum in recent weeks, as the Iran war has disrupted energy markets and highlighted the risks of continued reliance on carbon-based fuels.

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“Countries are going into Santa Marta with the energy crisis at the top of most of their minds. They have a visceral reminder of just how volatile, unpredictable, and unstable it is to rely on fossil fuels,” said Natalie Jones, senior policy advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a think tank.

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“We need to shift now from the overarching objective of transitioning away from fossil fuels to actually how we go about it,” said David Waskow of the World Resources Institute, describing Santa Marta as taking “initial steps” on the practical challenges. 

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One important step, Waskow said, is a global road map. Brazil’s COP30 presidency has proposed one and is expected to deliver it at COP31 in Turkey in November. The Santa Marta conference aims to discuss how national and international road maps can be developed. Brazilian delegates told negotiators gathered in Berlin this week for a separate pre-COP meeting that they aim to produce a plan in time for the United Nations General Assembly in September, according to people familiar. 

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Decision-making will be less formal than in UN climate talks, using a participatory process involving governments, scientists and civil society that informs a high-level segment. The meeting’s outcomes will be consolidated into a final report rather than a binding agreement.

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“My expectation is not that this is going to deliver huge results after one conference,” EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said in an interview at the Berlin meeting. “But it is important to have this process with this coalition of the willing.”

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Yet the limits of the effort are visible in who is not in the room. Absentees include the world’s three largest greenhouse gas emitters China, the US and India, as well as key oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and neighboring Venezuela. Saudi Arabia has long blocked any reference to phasing out fossil fuels during international talks.