Colombia and Netherlands Say COP31 Hosts Willing to Carry Fossil-Fuel Transition Talks Forward

Colombia and the Netherlands say the two governments set to run COP31, Australia and Türkiye, signaled willingness to fold the Santa Marta talks on moving away from coal, oil and gas into the November summit. Australia and Türkiye will jointly hold the COP31 presidency, with the conference set for Antalya in November.

The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels drew 57 countries. Mongabay reported the bloc accounts for roughly 30% of global energy demand and about 20% of global energy supply.

Colombia under Petro became the first major oil producer and exporter to stop all new fossil-fuel expansion. Organizers designed the Santa Marta process to move the transition summit to a new country each year, adding two co-hosts each round, according to Carbon Brief, which reported that Tuvalu and Ireland will co-host the next conference in 2027.

Colombia's political footing is less certain after an ally of Petro lost a presidential runoff on 21 June to Abelardo de la Espriella, who has promised to lift oil output and push fracking to the max, Carbon Brief reported.

Subsidy policy among the participating governments cuts against the stated agenda. Dutch MP Sjoukje van Oosterhout said Minister van Veldhoven, a co-chair of the conference, raised the Dutch government's fossil fuel subsidies this year and is weighing a further increase, according to Mongabay.