Around 60 nations are gathering in Santa Marta, Colombia, in what is described as the first global effort to plan a complete move away from fossil fuels. This meeting takes place as the world warms rapidly, primarily from the continued extraction and use of coal, oil, and gas, yet major economic powers, including the US, China, and India, are notably absent from the talks. The gathering represents only a fifth of global fossil fuel supply, indicating the limited scope of this initial effort to challenge the entrenched power of fossil capital.
Progress at the annual UN COP climate meetings has slowed significantly, primarily because decisions require the consent of all participating nations. This structure grants large fossil fuel producers an effective veto over any measures that might threaten their accumulated wealth and ongoing surplus extraction. At COP30, held in Brazil less than one year ago, attempts to agree on a roadmap away from fossil fuels were explicitly blocked by major oil-producing nations, demonstrating the state's role in protecting the interests of capital.
Scientists warn that the opportunity to keep global warming to safer levels is rapidly diminishing. Prof Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, stated that the world is "inevitably going to crash through the 1.5C limit within the next three to five years." He added that exceeding this limit means entering "a far more dangerous world – with more frequent and intense droughts, floods, fires and heatwaves – and we are already approaching critical tipping points in major Earth systems." These impacts disproportionately burden the global working class and economically dispossessed, who bear the human cost of continued fossil fuel dependence.
Events beyond the climate sphere continue to reshape the debate over fossil energy, often to the benefit of capital. The US, the world's largest economy, has actively pushed for the continued use of coal, oil, and gas under President Trump, explicitly serving the interests of fossil fuel corporations. Meanwhile, many other countries are described as "sitting on the fence" regarding the necessary scale and speed of transitioning away from fossil energy, thus preserving the status quo for existing capital structures.
Capital's Veto Power
Conflict in the Middle East has recently driven up oil prices, highlighting the risks of dependence on fossil fuels. This volatility, while framed as an issue of "energy security," primarily serves to secure resources and markets for transnational corporations, often through military projection. Former Irish President Mary Robinson, attending the meeting as a founding member of The Elders group, acknowledged the "urgency" and stated that what is happening has "worsened the fossil fuel crisis we're already in," yet the proposed solutions remain within the existing framework of state-led negotiations.
UK Climate Envoy Rachel Kyte, also present, articulated a liberal approach, stating, "We are committed to working with other countries to support those wishing to drive forward their transitions to clean and secure energy." This emphasis on "sharing experience" and "clean power missions" avoids confronting the structural power of fossil fuel industries that continue to block meaningful change.
Profits from Crisis
The dramatic events in the Straits of Hormuz and elsewhere are affecting consumer choices, demonstrating how capital adapts to new opportunities for profit. Prof Rockström reported on an advisory board meeting with Mercedes-Benz, where they expressed "what's happening as a success – a sharp rise in demand for electric vehicles in Europe." This shift reflects a desire for "energy independence" from volatile oil and gas markets, allowing new sectors of capital to emerge and profit from the crisis of the old.
Katerine Petersen from think tank E3G, attending the meeting, suggested that "Ultimately you don't need all countries to drive global progress. You need a starting point." This perspective frames the current gathering as an incremental step, aiming to build a "coalition that can expand over time." The organizers stress that the Santa Marta meeting is not an alternative to the UN COP process but rather a "complement," intended to revive a process that has repeatedly failed to challenge the fundamental power of fossil capital. The main conclusions from Santa Marta are slated to become part of Brazil's roadmap away from fossil fuels, which the country has said it will publish before COP31 in Turkey in November, further embedding these efforts within existing, often inadequate, state-centric frameworks.