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Santa Marta is a major milestone towards fossil fuel phase-out, says ActionAid

April 30, 2026

Reacting to the just-ended Santa Marta conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid International, said: 

“So many governments expressed real hunger to be free from the economic and climate harm of fossil fuel dependence. This was a watershed moment in which the collective mind became truly focused on the common cause of ending the fossil fuel era. 

What set this conference apart was the willingness to dive into and address the complex challenges of our fossil-fuelled world. The debt crisis, which keeps so many countries trapped on the fossil fuel treadmill against their will, came up repeatedly. Phasing out fossil fuels is not only a matter of energy transition, but also economic transformation, requiring just transitions and climate finance.

Santa Marta is a major milestone on our journey out of the fossil fuel era. It must set the stage for a new Fossil Fuel Treaty for the countries that are ready to lead the world down this path.”

ENDS 

Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on Climate Justice for ActionAid International, is available for media engagements. For media requests, please email christal.james@actionaid.org or call 7046659743. 

About ActionAid    

 ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.   n which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.   


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