In the Colombian coastal city of Santa Marta, 57 nations gathered in late April 2026 to do something the world has talked about for decades but rarely organized around with real intent: phase out fossil fuels. The inaugural summit of what's now known as the Santa Marta Coalition brought together countries from the Global South, united by the belief that the transition away from fossil fuels—abbreviated as TAFF—is no longer a distant aspiration but an urgent, implementable project. This matters because for the first time, a substantial coalition of nations is moving beyond pledges into the harder work of building frameworks, scientific guidance, and coordinated pathways.
The conference produced tangible structures rather than rhetoric. A dedicated scientific panel was unveiled to advise participating nations on developing their own fossil fuel phaseout roadmaps. The panel includes heavyweight climate experts: Carlos Nobre from Brazil and Johan Rockström from Sweden, the researcher who pioneered the planetary boundaries concept—a framework for measuring the planet's safe operating limits. This kind of scientific scaffolding transforms a political commitment into a technical reality nations can actually build.
Equally significant were the "workstreams" established to address three interconnected challenges. The first connects countries' phaseout roadmaps to their existing emissions reduction targets under U.N. climate commitments, ensuring consistency across their climate pledges. The second mobilizes financial support to help nations restructure their economic systems for the transition—a critical piece, since moving away from fossil fuels requires massive investment in new infrastructure and retraining. The third tackles trade systems, recognizing that global commerce often locks countries into fossil fuel dependency.
Two nations wasted no time translating conference momentum into action. Colombia and France both announced their own detailed phaseout roadmaps during the summit, offering proof of concept that the Santa Marta Coalition's framework can move quickly from discussion to declaration.
Mamphela Ramphele, a South African medical doctor and activist who attended as a member of the Planetary Guardians, sees the coalition's true power in its potential to create cascading pressure. Without a legally binding international agreement—which remains difficult to achieve given entrenched fossil fuel interests—the next-best strategy is demonstrating success. As countries implement their roadmaps and share positive results, other nations will face growing moral and practical pressure to join. Ramphele compares this approach to the decades-long tobacco control movement, which eventually shifted global norms through implementation and example rather than overnight mandate. The appeal, she emphasizes, must reach young people, who outnumber older generations and have the most at stake.
The Santa Marta Coalition intends to leverage its collective voice at future U.N. climate conferences, keeping the momentum visible and impossible to ignore. The next TAFF summit will be hosted in Tuvalu, jointly by the governments of Tuvalu and Ireland, moving the conversation to the Pacific—a region acutely vulnerable to fossil fuel impacts.
What's emerging is not a legally binding agreement, at least not yet, but something potentially more durable: a coalition of willing nations building proof that phaseout is technically feasible and politically achievable, one roadmap at a time.