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Santa Marta summit begins
More than 50 countries are gathering in Santa Marta, Colombia, from April 24 to 29 for a summit co-organized with the Netherlands aimed at implementing the transition away from fossil fuels.
“Share this page Colombia: a tool to facilitate dialogue on the energy transition - Evaluation Story Published on In a country heavily dependent on hydrocarbons and committed to an ambitious energy transition, how can public decision-makers, regulators, financial sector actors, and civil society collectively experiment with the trade-offs of a just transition”
The event is described as the first international conference dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels, with ministers and senior officials from more than 50 countries meeting to create a coalition of engaged actors.
Irene Velez Torres, Colombia's Environment Minister, said to AFP that the conference is designed as a space where countries, subnational governments and other stakeholders recognize the need to implement an energy transition by abandoning fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner.
The conference is scheduled to include high-level discussions between ministers and climate envoys for April 28 and 29 in the port of Santa Marta on the Caribbean Sea, and it is expected to publish a solutions-based report at the end of the five days.
Petro’s shift meets De la Espriella
Colombia’s energy transition politics are now entangled with the outcome of the presidential runoff, where far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won with 49.66% of the vote against Ivan Cepeda’s 48.7%.
DW reported that de la Espriella, a 47-year-old lawyer, entrepreneur and political newcomer, will succeed Gustavo Petro and that the result could mean a departure from key initiatives of the previous administration, particularly in energy.
In the climate-focused account, Christopher Wright said Colombia’s leftist presidency appeared to have ended, and he described de la Espriella as promising to focus on deregulation and to exploit oil extraction "to the maximum".
That same account said Petro’s government halted new oil and gas exploration contracts, suspended all hydraulic fracking pilots, and pledged to end the development of new unabated coal power plants shortly after coming to power in 2022.
What’s at stake next
The stakes for the transition are framed as both international and domestic, with Truthout quoting climate policy advocate Gina Cortés Valderrama warning that a de la Espriella administration would treat Colombia as "a pantry of resources to be exploited and placed on the market."
“Colombia has elected a new president, and the result has the potential to transform the country for the long term”
Truthout also quotes Cortés Valderrama saying, "What is at stake is not only domestic policy," and that it is Colombia’s position in the international arena.
In parallel, the Spanish and Colombian governments extended a Memorandum of Understanding on a just energy transition and the decarbonization of the energy sector, signed in Madrid in May 2023 and extended for three years.
The MdE extension was signed within the framework of the First International Conference for the Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, by Vice President Sara Aagesen and Minister Edwin Palma, with both highlighting the conference as a space for dialogue and cooperation toward net-zero emissions by 2050.
