From the Silence of Belém to the Hope of Santa Marta: Reconfiguring Climate Multilateralism

— Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm.
Director of the Department of Integral Ecology, Spanish Episcopal Conference

COP30, held in Belém do Pará, Brazil, left behind a bittersweet taste. The Brazilian presidency managed to imbue the final document with a humanist narrative that recognized the rights of indigenous peoples, the vital importance of the Amazon, and the ecological debt derived from historical emissions. However, the summit once again stumbled over the usual obstacle: the consensus rule.

The result was a text that, despite its symbolic gestures, failed on two points essential to integral ecology. In terms of mitigation, the explicit reference to the need to abandon fossil fuels disappeared, replaced by vaguer goals of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century. In terms of financing, although the scientific urgency of mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually was recognized, the political goal was set at a mere $300 billion, thus institutionalizing a financial gap that perpetuates injustice.

Faced with this deadlock in global diplomacy, where a single oil-producing country can veto the ambition of the entire planet, an alternative has emerged: the Santa Marta Conference in Colombia, convened for April 2026 by a bloc of 80 countries led by Colombia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Its purpose is clear: to move towards a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and pave the way for a just transition, beyond the obstacles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Santa Marta could become the checkmate to the fossil fuel blockade. As Pope Francis reminds us in Laudate Deum, when global institutions fail, it is up to civil society and intermediate countries to act. If these 80 nations agree to halt new exploration and coordinate their exit from fossil fuels, they will cause a massive contraction in demand. Sooner or later, even the large producers that do not join will see their markets shrink. The financial signal will be irreversible: the future will be renewable, not because of ideology, but for pure economic survival.

The strength of this coalition lies in the fact that it does not need the permission of Saudi Arabia or Russia to move forward. By operating as an alliance of will, it breaks the paralysis of consensus and forges its own path. Furthermore, the leadership of Colombia, a coal and oil-producing country, alongside European powers, gives it a unique ethical legitimacy. It dismantles the idea that climate action is a luxury of the North and presents it as a shared, albeit differentiated, responsibility.

One challenge remains, however: financing courage. For the Santa Marta route to be sustainable and fair, it is not enough to sign the end of fossil fuels. It is essential to put resources on the table and ensure that countries like Colombia do not collapse economically when the tap is turned off.

If Belém was the COP of conscience, recognizing the crisis in the heart of the rainforest, Santa Marta promises to be the conference of coherence. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that, even if global diplomacy progresses slowly, the political will of an organized majority can accelerate history and bring us closer, at last, to the comprehensive ecological conversion that the world needs at this immanent level. The key lies in “reconfiguring multilateralism” so that it is born “from below” (cf. Laudate Deum 37-40).