“To help journalists understand the Santa Marta conference and how they might go about covering it [in person or remotely], CCNow hosted a webinar on April 15. Panelists included key Colombian and Dutch diplomats who are organizing the conference and The Guardian’s Jonathan Watts. CCNow’s executive director and co-founder, Mark Hertsgaard, moderated. CCNow’s Hertsgaard and Elena González will also be in Santa Marta to support journalists with their coverage; please contact them via editors@coveringclimatenow.org.

“The First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels, taking place April 24–29 in Santa Marta, Colombia, will begin drafting a global ‘roadmap’ to phase out fossil fuels. Petrostates used UN consensus rules to veto that idea last November at COP30. But as CCNow pointed out in an article published this week, the Santa Marta conference will not be governed by UN rules. What’s more, the 85-plus countries that favored a roadmap at COP30 collectively amount to the biggest economic superpower on Earth. If they can outline a credible roadmap for withdrawing their immense buying power from fossil fuels, it could echo the effect of the 2015 Paris Agreement, causing governments and private investors alike to follow suit for fear their fossil fuel investments will become stranded assets.