Today and tomorrow, 28 and 29 April, 57 countries are gathering in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first international conference dedicated to a just transition away from fossil fuels, co-hosted by the governments of Colombia and Netherlands.

States, academics and civil society are discussing coordinated international action, with a focus on solutions to phase out fossil fuels in a just and equitable way. Ahead of the high-level summit, the conference hosted a series of multi-stakeholder dialogues, including an academic forum bringing together scientists, academic experts and NGOs. There was also a People’s Summit, bringing together Afro-descendant communities, NGOs, grassroots communities and social movements, and an Indigenous Forum. These three spaces have been working to provide governments with evidence-based recommendations on how to deliver a just transition grounded in territorial realities, environmental justice and the rights of communities already bearing the costs of fossil fuel extraction.  

The significance of Santa Marta lies in creating a forum where countries can come together to strengthen collective action and respond not only to the climate crisis, but also to the interconnected challenges of human rights violations, inequality and growing economic instability linked to fossil fuel dependence.

A central expected outcome of the conference is a report setting out concrete proposals under the three thematic pillars of the process. This builds on work already underway through national experiences, international cooperation, academic contributions and civil society dialogue.

The process also comes at a time when scientific evidence is increasingly challenged in public debate and policy spaces. For this reason, participants have stressed that decisions emerging from Santa Marta must remain firmly guided by the best available science, with clear and actionable recommendations for governments.

ABColombia is in Santa Marta participating in these discussions, under the Third Pillar, which focuses on multilateral and international cooperation to remove structural barriers to a just transition away from fossil fuels. Central to these discussions is the urgent need to address international legal and investment frameworks that continue to penalise climate action. Here ABColombia engaged in the academic forum and the People’s Assembly discussing the barriers posed by ISDS to climate action.

Following two days of intensive discussions, the academic dialogue concluded that the transition away from fossil fuels is both necessary and possible. A key recommendation is that governments move beyond fragmented responses and pursue coordinated international action to end investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This includes neutralising sunset clauses, which allow multinational corporations to continue using ISDS mechanisms for years after a treaty has been terminated.

The scientific and academic community is clear, international financial legal frameworks must be realigned and remove barriers such as ISDS which obstructs climate action. Furthermore, current market-led approaches to transition are failing to align with scientific evidence and must be replaced by coherent and credible pathways.

If States are to justly transition away from fossil fuels, they first need to remove the barriers which prevent them from being able to do this. Ahead of the Conference, 220 legal and economic experts and over 300 civil society organisations, including ABColombia, warned that ISDS is a barrier to States ability to regulate in the public interest.

On 25 March 2026, President Petro took an important first step by announcing Colombia’s intention to withdraw from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) which hears ISDS cases, the majority of which involve hydrocarbon, oil and gas. Colombia currently faces 28 ISDS claims, 16 of them linked to the fossil fuel sector. The total value of claims against the country is estimated at more than 13% of its annual national budget.

One of the most emblematic cases involves Glencore, which is suing Colombia for US$489 million after the Constitutional Court suspended the proposed expansion of the Cerrejón open-pit coal mine in 2017. The Court recognised serious environmental and human rights harms associated with the mine, including water diversion, air pollution and ecosystem destruction affecting surrounding communities.

“The Santa Marta conference now offers an important opportunity for other countries to support coordinated action to disengage from ISDS. The UK’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and its global leadership means it should take a lead in Santa Marta and make this possible”. Louise Winstanley, ABColombia

This is particularly urgent given that the vast majority of oil, gas and mining-related ISDS claims are brought by investors from the Global North against countries in the Global South. According to analysis by the Trade Justice Movement, the UK ranks among the worst offenders, with UK investors heavily involved in mining and hydrocarbon disputes.

Recommendations made from the Academic Group discussing ISDS to States participating in the conference are:

a) Explicitly recognise that ISDS is a barrier to the just transition away from fossil fuels and the urgent need to address it collectively, in light of States’ obligations on climate change as outlined in the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion.

b) Commit to refrain from negotiating, signing, ratifying, or adopting national and international legal instruments that protect fossil fuel investments and include ISDS provisions.

c) Commit to initiate termination of or withdrawal from legal instruments with ISDS and agree to carry out mutual termination of treaties, and neutralise the sunset clause, where a treaty partner so requests.

d) Commit to initiate negotiations to stop protecting fossil fuel investments and eliminate ISDS in agreements between them, either through a new standalone plurilateral agreement or as part of a broader treaty.

e) At Santa Marta, countries agree to launch and lead a working group with participation of affected communities, public interest organisations, vulnerable groups, academics, and Indigenous Peoples to collectively address ISDS as a barrier to the just transition away from fossil fuels and report back on progress in implementing these recommendations at subsequent conferences on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels