World’s first Global Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Conference in April 2026, co-hosted in Colombia with the Netherlands
Concensus need no longer block the future.
“a political home where timelines, equity, finance, and worker protection can be decided without vetoes”
| Statement from Ingmar Rentzhog on COP30: Consensus can no longer block the future |
| COP30 was not another Copenhagen. And it was definitely not a second Paris. It was something no one has witnessed in thirty years of climate summits. The final text was weak. The words “fossil fuel” vanished in the final hours. But beneath the text, the tectonic plates shifted. For the first time in history, a COP President refused to hide behind consensus. When the text buried the truth, he unearthed it from the closing podium: |
| “As a president for COP30 I will create a roadmap for transition away from fossil fuels.. ../.. they will be led by science” |
| Then he did the unthinkable: He launched a working group where he invited more than 85 willing countries and publicly endorsed Colombia’s proposal for the world’s first Global Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Conference in April 2026, co-hosted with the Netherlands. No previous COP President has ever broken the wall like that. And for the first time, the country that halted the plenary was not a petrostate defending oil. It was Colombia — an oil producer — demanding more ambition. Flag raised. Ignored. Raised again. Ignored again. Third time, backed by Latin American nations, they forced the session to suspend. Not to weaken the deal, but to defend science. History will record that reversal. Belém felt raw from the first day Indigenous leaders tried to force their way past security because they are already living the collapse. Brazilian scientists warned the Amazon is inches from irreversible tipping. Hundreds of delegates, and the COP President himself put on our #MakeScienceGreatAgain caps and literally wore the demand for science on their heads. When fire broke out and our live broadcast died, it no longer felt accidental, it felt like the metaphor we all needed. Meanwhile the superpowers went silent or absent China quietly blocked stronger language behind closed doors. The United States, the world’s largest historical emitter and economy, was not even there. When the biggest players step away from the Paris framework, the myth of 100 % consensus collapses in plain sight. Belém exposed it mercilessly Yet in that exposure something beautiful happened: the gap between reality and illusion became impossible to ignore. On our final We Don’t Have Time broadcast on 21 November, hours before the chaotic close, I said: |
| “The reality gap has never been wider.” |
| Science on one side. Political theatre on the other. But here’s what changed forever at COP30: most of the world finally saw which side is real. Two new paths just opened. Paths many of us have been fighting for since 2018: A global phase-out & deforestation roadmap: the COP President’s 85+ nation working group. For the first time in the history of the UN climate process, a COP President committed to building a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels outside the constraints of full consensus. He announced a working group of more than 85 willing countries, all supporting a science-based transition away from fossil fuels and a parallel roadmap to end deforestation. Together, these governments will begin shaping the world’s first official, government-led plan to phase out coal, oil, and gas while protecting the world’s remaining forests. A new centre of gravity has formed. A global political home for the the Fossil Fuel Treaty. At the same time, Colombia, supported by the Netherlands, will host the world’s first Global Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Conference on 28–29 April 2026 in Santa Marta. This conference, anchored in the momentum of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, creates a political home where timelines, equity, finance, and worker protection can be decided without vetoes. More nations joined the Treaty initiative during COP30, and the Brazilian Presidency recognized it as a legitimate complementary path. |
| “a political home where timelines, equity, finance, and worker protection can be decided without vetoes” |
| But let’s be honest: The coalition of the willing does not yet include all the major emitters. And that is not a failure, it is the reason this shift matters. If 195 countries could move together, we would already have a fossil fuel phase-out. We don’t. And that is why new pathways are opening, and this momentum is not limited to national governments. Cities & regions are stepping into the vacuum. California — the world’s 4th-largest economy — has officially endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative. So have 143 cities and subnational governments, including many megacities with emissions larger than entire nations. They are not bound by consensus. They act when governments stall. The Treaty movement is already global 18 countries are involved in Treaty discussions 143 cities & regional governments have endorsed it 4,105 organisations and institutions support it 1,061,142 individuals have called for it You can do too. Endorse here This is not fringe. This is the governance model emerging alongside the UN process — and growing far faster. So what will COP30 actually be remembered for? Not the deleted words. But the moments the old order cracked wide open: An oil-producing nation demanding more ambition than Europe. Frontline voices refusing to be silenced. Hundreds of delegates — and the COP President — wearing #MakeScienceGreatAgain caps. A COP President speaking the truth the text forbade. The largest emitters exposing the myth of unanimity. The moment the world saw clearly which reality is real. The moment two parallel pathways to phase-out fossil fuels finally opened. The fossil fuel era is ending The only question left is whether we design the landing — or crash. After nine years in this climate fight, I come home with something I thought I had lost forever: the sense that when consensus fails, a new and concrete way to phase out fossil fuels is now wide open. The gap has never been wider. But the courage to close it has never been stronger. Now we must turn the momentum into a roadmap. And the roadmap into action. |