Reflections on Santa Marta and the road ahead
Reflections on Santa Marta and the road ahead
It has been one month since the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia. I have taken some time to reflect on the outcomes of that gathering with subsequent events in Canada that are rattling the foundation of our country’s climate response.
The Santa Marta Conference named the elephant in the room—that a just transition away from fossil fuels is imperative for life on Earth. This straightforward framing was a breakthrough for a multilateral climate change space. The conference convened approximately 60 countries, representing a third of global fossil fuel consumption and a fifth of global fossil fuel production. The conference also established a new Science Panel for Global Energy Transition and there were consultative spaces for Indigenous peoples, youth, civil society, faith, labour and other spaces found in the process. A key outcome of the conference is that a second one will be held in Tuvalu in 2027, co-hosted by Ireland.
Organizing from ecumenical and interfaith partners in the Global South ahead of the conference was also notable. On April 24, more than 150 religious leaders gathered at the Encounter of Spiritualities in Santa Marta and adopted a declaration, signed by 20 faith-based organizations, calling for a treaty and additional commitments to protect local communities in the Global South from economic and cultural exploitation, as well as human rights abuses. That declaration and the Catholic Bishops’ Manifesto of the Churches of the Global South for Our Common Home are centering strong moral clarity on the need for fossil fuel phaseout. As a member of the Faiths for Fossil Fuel Future Alliance, KAIROS will continue to amplify these calls and act with the moral imperative that this moment demands.
The Santa Marta conference was not without its challenges. Concerns were raised about the absence of Indigenous leadership, barriers to access, no binding commitments and a dominant presence of North-led institutions. However, based on feedback from those who attended, the conference and its related gatherings brought new momentum and energy to the work of just transition in a much-needed way.
Canada participated in Santa Marta, and yet, on May 15 the federal government signed an implementation agreement for the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding, which paves the way for the development of another fossil fuel pipeline in Canada. Read CAN-Rac’s statement of the announcement of the Canada-Alberta Agreement.
Furthermore, over the past year, the government has been steadily chipping away at key climate commitments and environmental protections. In the last month alone, it weakened protections under the Species at Risk Act, removed federal assessment requirements for major pipeline projects, weakened the industrial carbon pricing system to the point of ineffectiveness, and suspended the Clean Electricity Regulations.
Together, these decisions signal a troubling retreat from the climate leadership and environmental responsibility this moment demands.
I must admit, I’ve been having a hard time finding hope and inspiration from all these significant setbacks. I am frustrated that we have decided yet again to entrench ourselves into fossil fuel dependence when cheaper, cleaner alternatives are staring at us right in the face. I am sad for lost momentum, for the hundreds of dedicated people who poured their time and expertise into the research, drafting, study and negotiations of each piece of environmental legislation that has been watered down and discarded in the last year. I am angry that our leaders are neither helping us prepare for the future nor having a vision of progress that includes anything other than economic growth. In fact, they are undermining our efforts to respond to the moral imperative that this moment demands and dismantling the existing protections for life on Earth that so many of us are fighting for.
This year’s Laudato Si’ Week (May 17-24) theme was “From Hope to Action.” All I could feel was paralysis. All I could think of was “what’s the point?!” Any action we take will just get undone in the next election cycle. I know I was not alone in these feelings, and it helped me to work through what I was feeling with others. In one conversation, a wise colleague suggested taking a step back and reading some Joanna Macy. In doing so, I was reminded to move through my grief and feelings to fuel ‘active hope’ for the road ahead.
Even as Canada doubles down on fossil fuel expansion through new pipeline projects and the rollback of environmental protections, the conversations and leadership emerging from the Santa Marta conference offered a different vision – one rooted in justice, community and hope. I know these visions are being seeded and nurtured in so many other spaces too. The gathering reminded us that while the road ahead in Canada is steep, people in this country and around the world are already steadily working at ‘active hope’ and building courageous alternatives that can guide a more equitable and sustainable future.
By Beth Lorimer, Ecological Justice Coordinator
