The numbers tell a clear story. Renewable energy capacity grew nearly 50% in 2025. Energy transition investment hit a record USD 2.4 trillion in 2024. Ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, estimated to carry USD 600 billion to 1 trillion in economic costs, have made one thing undeniable: reducing fossil fuel dependency is no longer just a climate imperative. It is an energy security and economic resilience issue.  

The transition is past its point of no return. The question now is how to implement it – and who helps shape that process.  

That is exactly what the Santa Marta conference was convened to answer.  

What Happened 

Between April 24-29, 2026, Colombia and the Netherlands co-hosted 57 countries, representing roughly one-third of global GDP, for the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels (TAFF). The gathering grew directly from the landmark 2023 28th Conference of the Parties (COP) agreement in Dubai, where nearly 200 countries committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels. When that language failed to appear in COP30’s final decision text in Belém, a coalition of around 60 countries carried the agenda forward anyway.  

Santa Marta was deliberately different. No new targets. No negotiated outcome text. Instead: a genuine “safe space” for honest government dialogue where frontrunner countries, civil society, indigenous peoples, workers, and the private sector could focus on the implementation of existing Paris Agreement commitments.  

The mood was cautiously optimistic. Participants agreed that the transition has passed its point of no return. But serious structural barriers remain, and urgency has never been sharper.   

Five Outcomes That Matter 

1. A second conference confirmed. The next gathering will be co-hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland in 2027, with the main event in Tuvalu and a pre-conference meeting in Ireland. The process has a future.  

2. A standing coordination group established. A permanent group will maintain continuity between conferences, connecting countries leading transition alliances and initiatives. The COP30 Action Agenda Activation Group 4 will serve as the key convening body.  

3. Results feed directly into global climate processes. The conference report travels to the COP30 Presidency ahead of UNFCCC June Climate Meetings (SB64) in Bonn (June 8-18), London Climate Action Week, and New York Climate Week. Outcomes also feed into the second Global Stocktake (GST 2.0), expected to conclude in 2028. With Asia expected to host COP33, the timing is significant.  

4. Three concrete workstreams launched. Countries will now do real cooperative work across: Roadmaps (building transition plans aligned with NDCs, connected to the new Science Panel); Macroeconomic and Financial Architecture (tackling debt, fiscal dependencies, and investment flows); and Producer-Consumer Alignment (coordinating how fossil fuel producers and consumers move towards decarbonized trade).  

5. A new Science Panel established. The Science Panel for the Global Energy Transition (SPGET) was formally launched to help countries build 1.5°C-aligned roadmaps and dismantle the legal, financial, and political barriers blocking progress.  

What This Means for Japan and South Korea 

Both countries should read the Santa Marta as a direct signal – and an opportunity.  

As two of the world’s largest importers of LNG, coal, and oil, Japan and South Korea are acutely exposed to exactly the kind of geopolitical disruption the conference identified as a core rationale for accelerating the transition. Energy security and climate action are now the same argument.  

With GST 2.0 feeding into regional climate processes and Asia expected to host COP33, both countries sit at the center of a pivotal regional moment. Active engagement is no longer just a climate obligation – it is a strategic economic and security imperative.  

South Korea’s industrial profile, covering steel, shipbuilding, semiconductors, positions it to demonstrate that large industrial economies can decarbonize supply chains at scale. That’s a credible signal to other emerging economies watching closely. Japan, meanwhile, can deploy its convening authority and development finance institutions to advance viable transition pathways for fossil-fuel dependent Southeast Asian economies through the Producer-Consumer Alignment workstream.  

What Comes Next 

The calendar ahead is crowded with moments that will test whether Santa Marta’s momentum holds.  

• June Climate Meetings (SB64), June 8-18, Bonn. The UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies session is the first near-term opportunity for both countries to engage with TAFF discussions and contribute to the presidency-led implementation summary ahead of COP31.  

• UN General Assembly High-Level Week, September 8-22, New York. A higher-stakes platform to draw an explicit, public connection between fossil fuel dependency, geopolitical vulnerability, and the economic case for clean energy.  

• COP31, November 9-20, Antalya. The culminating test. The degree to which major economies spanning Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, engage substantively in the lead-up will be a direct measure of the credibility of their climate leadership. But it will also reveal something more immediate: whether governments are prepared to translate record investment and capacity into coordinated, durable implementation.  

The energy security shocks are already here. The transition infrastructure is being built. What remains is the political will to align both – and COP31 is where that alignment will be tested, collectively and in public.  

About the Authors 

Saehee Jeong and Kairi Nakayama are members of SFOC's Diplomacy team.