ENERGY ROADMAPS REVIVE THE TRANSITION
How a breakaway climate conference refocused the future on renewables
COUNTRIES generating a third of the world’s wealth have vowed to follow roadmaps for discarding fossil fuels, after they agreed heightened concerns over energy security and climate change.
Motivated delegates from 57 nations convened in Colombia, at April’s end, to identify and agree successive moves that will ditch their dependence on oil, gas and coal.
Spurred by threats of rising energy prices, accelerating inflation, interest rate increases and spiralling unemployment, they achieved in two days what 197 nations could not in twelve at COP30.
From a five day forum comprising exploration and discussion, not negotiation, two countries stepped forward to outline precise roadmaps for energy transition.
And, observing attentively, 55 others demonstrated clear intent to follow suit at next year’s ‘Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels’ conference on the exposed Pacific island chain of Tuvalu.
Before then, in November, the same nations will showcase their progress to attendees at COP31 in Antalya, Turkey – where it is anticipated a universal but flexible roadmap will be devised.
As with all wheels in motion, the smaller eccentric one powers the larger one towards its target.
A new start line was traced and traversed in Santa Marta city, after significant outcomes from the conference.
Chairing the talks, Colombia’s environment minister Irene Vélez Torres heralded them as “the beginning of a new global climate democracy.”
China, Russia, India and the US as well as petro-states Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE weren’t invited – to elude the type of lengthy debates and deadlocks experienced at COP30.
Ms. Vélez Torres said: “There has been a growing gap between science and governments. It happens because there is a lot of denialism. There is a lot of economic and political lobbying as well.
“The true belief of the countries that are here is that we need to go back to science and base our decisions on science, and back up our decision-making, processes and pathways with science.”
The 1,900 attendees were comprised of parliamentarians, scientists and academics, policy, financial and legal experts, think tank analysts, civil society and Indigenous leaders.
Devised by co-hosts Colombia and the Netherlands, the format featured a science pre-conference attended by 400 climate scholars, before opening and closing plenaries, and closed-door break-out groups.
Science sessions on April 24 and 25 established a new ‘Science Panel for Global Energy Transition’ – to involve up to 100 brains, be based at the São Paulo University and deliver rapid analysis and guidance on transition pathways, technology solutions, policy design and financial apparatus.
The break-out meetings in Santa Marta each featured 12 ministers or envoys from different countries in an inner circle, enclosed by perfect outer circles of civil society members and Indigenous people. A designated chairperson led each discussion and all in situ were encouraged to be free-flowing with their thoughts.
Panama’s climate change envoy, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez described the ambiance: “We couldn’t open our computers so we had to speak from our minds and our hearts. That kind of space, I haven’t seen in my 10-year history with the UNFCCC.”
The Roadmaps
During the summit, France’s climate envoy Benoît Faraco produced his country’s new roadmap for energy transition – setting end-of-consumption targets for coal by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050.
The detailed roadmap included explicit decarbonisation milestones.
For France’s 50 largest industrial zones, 85 percent fewer oil-fired boilers by 2035. For its countrywide homes, 60 percent fewer oil-fired boilers by 2035.
For electrification of public transport, 25 percent fossil fuel-free by 2030. And for electric car sales, 66 percent of its new automobile market by 2030.
Alongside this, objectives to expand the country’s use of nuclear, hydrogen and renewable energy – including biofuel – were outlined clearly.
By the summit’s close, Colombia had the outline of a similar roadmap – despite being South America's largest coal producer and the second-largest producer of petroleum.
Drafted by Prof Piers Forster of Leeds University’s Priestley Centre for Climate Future, it showed carbon emissions from energy cut by 90 percent below 2015 levels – made possible by ambitious policies to ditch fossil fuels and electrify transport by 2050.
While costings indicated Colombia needed to increase yearly spending by $10bn to achieve that goal, contributing economists demonstrated yearly savings of $23bn by 2050 – with fossil fuel price volatility and inflation central to calculations.
Forster explained to delegates: “The biggest issues facing countries are economic and to do with the cost of living. So, that was also the focus of this work for Colombia.”
Next Steps
Almost half of the attendee nations were fossil fuel producers, pronouncing clear intentions to wind down their carbon outputs.
Petroleum is critical to Nigeria’s economy. Africa’s largest oil producer pumps almost two million barrels per day. Its ministerial envoy Abubakar Momah was first to speak at the opening plenary.
He said: “Nigeria is actively diversifying its economy away from extracting oil, which accounts for around 80 percent of our exports. Nigeria strongly believes that it is not whether extraction should decline, but how to organise it so it is manageable, fair and politically viable.”
Similarly, more than 2.3 million barrels of petroleum, gas and other liquid fuel transit the Panama Canal each day. The canal is the primary engine for Panama’s national economy.
Yet the country’s special representative on climate change, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, addressed the conference with: “Economies built on fossil fuels are unravelling in real time. Fossil fuels are not just dirty. They are unreliable, they are dangerous and they must end.”
Both are sacrificing, astounding and welcoming positions.
The closing plenary of the ‘Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels’ conference on April 29 was led by co-hosting Dutch climate minister Stientje van Veldhoven.
While inviting more nations to join the “open coalition,” she urged those present to take away and navigate three work streams – ahead of the 2027 ‘Second Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels’ in Tuvalu.
For true transition they must eschew fossil fuel trade systems, develop national and regional roadmaps and adopt liberating financial systems around renewables – liaising with the newly establish ‘Science Panel for Global Energy Transition’.
All of the 57 countries present concurred.
The five days of unrestrained talks were heralded as “a historic breakthrough” by Tzemporah Berman, founder of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.
She surmised: “We are building a coalition of ambitious countries willing to lead and break the consensus deadlock that has paralysed concrete action on fossil fuels in the UN negotiations.
“After years stuck in endless debates about whether to phase out fossil fuels, finally we are focusing on the how.”
CoAlternative Energy’s CEO David Peters monitored reports emerging from Santa Marta, and reflected on the conference.
He said: “The global energy transition is no longer a concept. It is real and happening before our eyes, in places like Santa Marta and Tuvalu.
“This breakaway group of nations deserves every commendation for working around the deadlock of COP30, and continuing to shift humanity’s relationship with energy.
“We now face the dual problem of weakening climate and economic stability. The cause of each are fossil fuels.
“The energy transition towards renewables is a route to a more secure future and CoAlternative Energy is pleased to be supporting the transition with steam treated advanced black pellets.”
Alongside the UN, countries attending the ‘Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels’ were: 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.
