SANTA MARTA, Colombia — This week’s first-of-a-kind summit to shift away from fossil fuels won’t be the last.
Officials from nearly 60 nations have gathered here for two days to discuss how — not whether — to wind down their dependence on oil, gas and coal. Now Colombia and the Netherlands will pass the baton to Ireland and Tuvalu to carry on what many officials hope sets the foundation for a new form of multilateral cooperation.
“We’ve met over the last couple of days at a moment when the need to transition away from fossil fuels is no longer a distant objective, but an immediate and defining challenge of our time,” Philip Nugent, Ireland’s director general of the environment, said during the closing plenary. “What we’ve seen over these last days is not only a recognition of that urgency, but an openness, a positivity and a willingness to act on it together.”
The decision to host the conference in the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu sends a powerful signal to the world, he added.
