Beyond Fossil Fuels: The Santa Marta Action Plan and How Canada Can Push It Forward
Join us to debrief the historic Santa Marta Conference, the first implementation-focused conference to support practical action by those already prepared to accelerate a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels and to generate shared understanding and actionable guidance that can help.
The Conference, announced at COP 30 in Brazil, and co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands from April 25 to 29, 2026 in the Colombian port city of Santa Marta aims to work with national and subnational governments, civil society, Indigenous communities and the private sector to develop joint action plans in three thematic areas:
Overcoming economic dependence (fiscal dependence and public debt, energy security, productive reconversion without creating new forms of extractivism, and shared responsibilities and joint efforts).
Transforming supply and demand (supply: fuel switching, phase-out of key demand drivers, and energy access; supply: exploration and extraction licensing, planning for managed closures; incentives: from fossil fuel subsidies to clean energy investment).
Advancing international cooperation and multilateralism (closing gaps in implementation, governance and cooperation; addressing international legal barriers, particularly those arriving from investor-State dispute settlement).
Our discussion will centre on how Canada, as both a petro-state and a country seeking a sustainable energy future, should support the Santa Marta conference and be represented there at the highest official level. Among the countries that will participate in the meeting are Australia and Mexico, both major oil producers, as well as European nations and small island states.
The Group of 78 seeks to promote awareness among all Canadians of the ambition and importance of the Santa Marta conference and to add our support to the collective efforts of governmental, civic and business partners to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
Speaker: Tzeporah Berman has been designing and winning campaigns in Canada and internationally for 30 years. She is currently the International Program Director at Stand.Earth and the Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. She is the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Climate and Energy Program and Co-founder of ForestEthics. In 2019, Tzeporah received the Climate Breakthrough Project Award. In 2016, Tzeporah was appointed by the Alberta Government to Co-Chair the Oil Sands Advisory Working Group tasked with making recommendations to implement climate change and cumulative impact policies and was listed as one of the 35 Most Influential Women in British Columbia by BC Business Magazine. In 2015, she was awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in British Columbia and, in 2013, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of British Columbia. She is also the author of This Crazy Time: Living Our Environmental Challenge. In 2021 Tzeporah gave a widely-viewed TED Talk presenting the case for a global treaty to phase out fossil fuels.
Moderator: Susan Tanner, Vice Chair, Group of 78 and Chair of its Climate Change and Environment Working Group. Susan previously held positions in both the federal and Ontario governments and has been very active in community organisations as both a board and staff member. Susan was a founder of Halton Hills Community Legal Services (1978) and founding chairperson of LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund) (1985), for which she was recently celebrated. She represented Friends of the Earth at the 1992 UNCED in Rio. In 1995, Friends of the Earth Canada accepted a UNEP award for work on the Montreal Protocol carried out under her leadership. While serving as Executive Director (2007-2010) for the Canadian Environmental Network, Ms. Tanner was honoured as a United Nations Association of Canada “Championne” for her work on human rights and the environment.
Co-Moderator: Leah Darbyson, Executive Committee Member, Group of 78, is a Master’s student at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs where she specializes in Health, Displacement, and Humanitarian Policy. Her research focuses on climate-induced migration, property rights in conflict zones, and the intersection of legal regimes, development, and displacement. Her work reflects a strong interest in rethinking international cooperation, sustainable development, and the governance of emerging technologies.