DIPLOMACY
Santa Marta’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ blueprints fossil-free future
Delegates from almost 60 countries met in Santa Marta, Colombia this week. Photo: Mike Muzurakis/IISD/ENB
Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is the country’s oldest surviving city. While attracting plenty of tourists for its nearby beaches, archeological sites and as a gateway to the world-famous Tayrona National Park, the city’s economic importance today largely concerns its port — from where Colombia exports vast quantities of coal.
It is fitting, then, that the city would play host this week to the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, a historic event in climate diplomacy, seeking to unite like-minded countries and implement concrete actions to support the phasing out of oil, gas and coal.
Outside the formal trappings of the COP meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — where the need for absolute consensus often throttles progress — this week’s conference was designed as a “safe harbor” for willing actors seeking to advance the energy transition beyond the bare-bones commitments agreed upon at COPs…
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