Fossil Fuel Phaseout Talks Begin With Half The Global Economy

InnovationSustainabilityFossil Fuel Phaseout Talks Begin With Half The Global EconomyByIngmar Rentzhog,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Ingmar Rentzhog is the CEO and founder of We Don’t Have Time.for We Don’t Have TimeFollow AuthorApr 26, 2026, 10:36am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Press Conference, Official Opening of the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil FuelsPhoto: We Don't Have TimeThe world’s first fossil fuel phaseout conference has begun in Santa Marta, Colombia, with 57 countries representing more than half of global GDP, 30% of the world’s population and 20% of global fossil fuel production. Fossil fuel phaseout has moved from climate advocacy to the center of the global economy, where it can no longer be ignored.For years, fossil fuel phaseout has been treated as politically impossible unless every major producer agreed at once. Santa Marta is testing a different theory: that a critical mass of countries can start building the rules, roadmaps, finance mechanisms and scientific capacity needed to manage the decline of coal, oil and gas. Before the next crisis forces the world to do it chaotically.The conference is co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands and is designed as a space for countries, subnational governments and other stakeholders that recognize the need to implement a transition away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner, in line with climate goals and the best available science.Tzeporah Berman, founder and chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, described the mood in Santa Marta as “really emotional, actually. Kind of euphoric.” In an interview with We Don’t Have Time, she said: “There are 60 countries here and academics and scientists from all over the world, Indigenous people, civil society, all here to have a conversation about how to do...