Moving from Narrative to Action in the Phase Out of Fossil Fuels

Tzeporah Berman

The Blog Series on a Just Climate Transition by the University of Oxford Climate Alumni Network (OxCAN) delves into the complexities and challenges of the issue, while proffering tangible solutions and pathways. In this post, Tzeporah Berman, Chair and Founder of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, celebrates how far we have come in having fossil fuels on the agenda in climate change negotiations, while noting the path forward towards their complete phase out and the end to the climate crisis.

Oil, gas and coal. These three products are responsible for more than 85 percent of carbon emissions driving the increase in fires, floods and drought sweeping our planet. Despite being the main source of the climate crisis, fossil fuels were ignored at international climate negotiations for decades. The Paris Agreement, while critical for establishing an agreed upon limit of warming, doesn’t even mention the words “oil, gas and coal”.

The focus was on reducing emissions from the use of energy, not on its production. The assumption was that the markets would respond to demand side policies. This hasn’t worked. Emissions have gone up as has production. This is in part due to the more than seven trillion dollars per year that countries dump into subsidising an industry that is working against humanity and the planet. This is upside down. Renewable energy commitments must go hand in hand with constraining the supply of the three products jeopardising our future.

Another aspect are the massive greenwashing campaigns fossil fuel companies run around the globe. Per the work of the Influence Map organisation, since 1967, fossil fuel companies have focused on advancing three narratives through their greenwashing efforts. Solutions Skepticism, which downplays alternatives such as renewable energy and electric vehicles; Policy Neutrality which focuses on consumer choice, market solutions and limited government interventions; and Affordability and Energy Security which is self-explanatory.

Fossil fuel lobbyists have also been given a seat at the table for far too long. At the last several UN climate meetings, there were more industry lobbyists in attendance than the official negotiating delegates from the 10 most climate-impacted countries.

Fossil fuels are fortunately no longer being ignored. In fact, they are now at the centre of climate debates. This is thanks to the willingness of many civil society, government, academic, Indigenous, youth, health and many other leaders from every corner of the planet to advocate for a phase out of oil, gas and coal and begin mapping out the steps for it to happen in a fast, fair and fully funded way. 

These efforts are taking place under the banner of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative which is uniting thousands in a common call for a just transition, the end of fossil fuel expansion and a wind down in keeping with science so warming can be limited to 1.5°C. A key part of the initiative is creating a space to explore and negotiate new international trade, tax and debt mechanisms in order to overcome systemic challenges. Many countries in the Global South must produce fossil fuels, such as Ecuador, in order to pay off debt that is the result of unjust, colonial policies that extract from developing nations. 

The initiative was launched by civil society in 2019 and now there are 18 countries participating in diplomatic dialogues regarding a Fossil Fuel Treaty. Thanks to leaders from Pacific Island Nations, the call for a phase out of fossil fuels was brought to UN discussions and in 2023 at COP28, the need for a transition away from oil, gas and coal was referenced in the climate negotiation text for the first time.  

Words matter. This reference changed the media and policy debate. However, narratives are not enough. Action is what ultimately counts and there was no follow up on this demand the following years. At the recent UN COP30, held in Belém in November 2025, there was a wide call for countries to commit to developing a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels and to advance an urgently needed global just transition, yet this was once again kept out of the final decision text. 

Despite this, during the whole COP, oil, gas and coal were dragged front and centre into the debate thanks to a group of 24 nations that joined together to release the Belém Declaration on the Phase Out of Fossil Fuels. This declaration affirms these countries’ commitment to work together towards a just, orderly and equitable transition consistent with 1.5°C.

The list of countries that signed the Belém Declaration includes Pacific Island Nations that have been leading the world on climate action for decades. Colombia, a fossil fuel producer which is also part of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, was a leader in driving the declaration forward. At the same press event where the declaration was made public, Colombia, in partnership with the Netherlands, announced they will foster this cooperation by hosting the First International Conference for the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in April 2026 in Santa Marta, Colombia. 

In Santa Marta, countries will discuss the importance of enabling conditions for a just transition, including financial, technological and technical capacities that respond to national contexts and address the needs of vulnerable communities. Also on the agenda will be how to create fiscal space and improve access to non-debt finance for developing countries, promote diversified and resilient economies and eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. 

Free of fossil fuel lobbyists, countries attending can make real progress on these topics. As was done with land mines, asbestos and other global threats, real momentum is achieved when a group of countries, committed to real action, break free of negotiations where a single nation has veto power, and begin to host their own dialogues in parallel with other multilateral processes. 

As Gustavo Petro, President of the Republic of Colombia said at the UN General Assembly in November 2025, “What is needed to successfully overcome the climate crisis is a revolution of the people. It is a revolution of civilisations that must dialogue with each other.”  May the First International Conference for the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels mark when the revolution of dialogue begins.

Tzeporah Berman is the Chair and Founder of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a global effort to foster international cooperation to accelerate a transition to renewable energy, and an end to the expansion of coal, oil and gas. She is also the Co-founder and International Program Director at Stand.earth, Founder of PowerUp Canada, former Co-director of Greenpeace International’s Climate Energy Program, and former Executive Director of the Tarsands and Pipeline Network. Tzeporah also serves as a government climate policy advisor, most recently in British Columbia in the Climate Leadership Team and the Green Energy Task Force, and in the Alberta Government as the Co-Chair of the Oil Sands Advisory Working Group. She has been named among TIME’s 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders (2024), received the Climate Scorecard Canada’s Climate Leader Award (2024), and selected as a finalist for the 2025 WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award for Trailblazing Leadership, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for environmental leadership.

Blogs are the opinions of their authors and do not represent the official views of OxCAN.