Residents living near a coal plant in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, breathe such toxic air that they describe themselves as prisoners in their own homes. In Louisiana, communities along the petrochemical corridor known as “Cancer Alley” face some of the highest cancer rates in the United States. In Uganda and Tanzania, activists opposed to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) have been arrested and criminally charged for standing against the expansion of fossil fuels. These are not abstract statistics but concrete human rights issues linked to fossil fuel production.
However, as more than 50 governments come together this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first international conference on energy transition and phasing out fossil fuels, human rights issues are absent from the agenda. The conference, co-organized by Colombia and the Netherlands, comes at a critical moment. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that our dependence on fossil fuels destabilizes both the climate and global security, making a just transition urgent. The recent COP30 climate conference also ended without a decision on fossil fuels, despite calls from over 80 countries for a roadmap for their phased elimination.
This week’s meeting is expected to accelerate progress on the transition. However, it should not treat human rights as a secondary consideration. The combustion of fossil fuels is a major contributor to air pollution, identified by the World Health Organization as the greatest threat to human health globally, killing around seven million people each year. Putting rights at risk risks leaving communities already affected by fossil fuel extraction and its devastating effects behind.
The International Court of Justice has clearly established that states have a legal obligation to protect the climate system. Santa Marta should translate these obligations into concrete actions. Failing to gradually phase out fossil fuels undermines the rights to life, health, food, water, and housing of people worldwide.
The governments gathered in Santa Marta must ensure that the transition to phasing out fossil fuels is grounded in human rights law and considers the contributions of the most vulnerable communities to help develop gradual exit plans. For the conference to be successful, the most vulnerable communities should finally see their rights and health protected.
