IRELAND IS STILL reeling from over a week of protests in response to the fuel crisis that paralysed the country. The scale of anger and frustration has been palpable.

The global backdrop for this crippling economic and political turmoil is stark: an ongoing blockade of one of the most crucial oil transport corridors in the world, spiking fuel prices, and governments scrambling to secure vital supplies to maintain their energy and transport systems.

Fuel protesters gathered outside Leinster House after widespread unrest the week before. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

In the midst of this global turbulence, the devastating impact on people in Lebanon and Iran has been lost. Also lost is the most obvious solution to the crisis – a rapid end to fossil fuels, something that would end energy shocks like the one we are in, support the lives of people struggling every day, and make the planet more livable.

A rare chance to do this now presents itself. Together with over 50 countries, the Irish government will attend the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, starting today and taking place in the Colombian port city of Santa Marta. This crucial gathering is a serious effort at coordinated implementation of the fossil fuels phase-out.

Breaking with oil, coal and gas

Decades of UN summits led to the 2015 Paris Agreement, a framework for limiting the global temperature increase by 2030. But the international community has only recently agreed on the need to transition away from fossil fuels, the main culprit of the climate crisis.

During the COP28 meeting in the UAE, it belatedly caught up with science and public opinion that the burning of coal, oil and gas must be addressed.

The Santa Marta conference, driven by a breakaway group of willing member states and co-chaired by Colombia and the Netherlands, is working to break this........

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