Presentation short abstract

The COP30's final text failed to even fossil fuels, yet 85 countries supported a fossil fuel phase-out roadmap. This paper discusses the process and outcomes of the Colombia-led First International conference gathering states, organizations and communities to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Presentation long abstract

Despite unprecedented momentum, the final decision text of COP30 in Brazil ultimately failed to even reference fossil fuels, exposing persistent political resistance to addressing the primary driver of climate change. Yet this apparent ‘dead-end’ sharply contrasts with the strong support—expressed by 85 countries—for a coordinated roadmap to phase out fossil fuel production. This paper examines both the tensions and opportunities revealed through these negotiations by analyzing the process and (upcoming) outcomes of the Colombia-led First International Conference to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground to be held on 28-29 April 2025. Bringing together states, international organizations, Indigenous peoples, and environmental justice movements, the conference marked a significant attempt to reshape global climate governance around production-side commitments. Based on previous supply-side work and participation in COP30 and the Colombia conference, I first trace how environmental justice organizations, particularly from the Global South, advanced new frameworks and strategies for a rapid and equitable decline in fossil fuel extraction, emphasizing historical responsibility, community rights, and just transition principles. I then examine obstruction efforts against a fossil fuel phase-out (entrenched producer-state alliances, energy-security narratives, corporate lobbying, technocratic “delay”). Third, I discuss the pathways emerging from the Colombia conference, including coordinated supply-side transparency mechanisms and political strategies ahead of the upcoming pre-COP meetings and COP31 in Istanbul. By exploring these convergences and fault lines, the paper considers whether this new diplomatic space can catalyze more ambitious, justice-centred pathways to reshape the future of global climate governance and keep fossil fuels in the ground.