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Countries meet outside U.N. process to advance fossil fuel phaseout

Santa Marta talks aimed to build momentum for a new means of working on climate measures beyond the current gridlock.

From left to right, officials from Ireland, Colombia, the Netherlands, and Tuvalu join hands at the conference.
From left to right, Philip Nugent, director general of Ireland's Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment; Irene Vélez Torres, director of Colombia's National Environmental Agency; Stientje van Veldhoven, Dutch minister of climate policy and green growth; and Maina Vakafua Talia, Tuvalu minister of home affairs, climate change and environment, join hands at the conference. (IISD/ENB/Mike Muzurakis)

Ministers from 57 countries concluded a six-day conference in Colombia, outlining follow-up actions to advance a transition away from fossil fuels outside the formal United Nations climate process.

The meeting, led by Colombia and the Netherlands, ended on Wednesday with pledges to move faster than negotiations under the U.N. system, where decisions require consensus among nearly 200 countries. The countries agreed to deepen cooperation on policy and economic measures to support a transition away from fossil fuels.

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