When 37 nations met in Colombia from April 24-29 to attend the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, Bangladesh was not present. The instinctive response might be to dismiss the conference as yet another selective, diplomatic club shaped by the priorities of wealthier countries. A certain level of cynicism would certainly not be unjustified in how one views climate diplomacy. But reducing Santa Marta to that alone also misses some crucial factors.
To understand the significance of Bangladesh’s exclusion, we need to understand what Santa Marta was trying to achieve differently.
For over three decades, international climate change talks under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been carried out using the consensus approach. This meant that nations having vested interest in fossil fuels could water down any significant commitments. The first direct mention of fossil fuels in an official UN climate outcome did not appear until COP28 in 2023.
Santa Marta emerged partly out of frustration with that sluggish pace. The conference, organised by Colombia and the Netherlands, was not designed to replace the COP structure or function as another broad negotiating forum. It was narrower and, in some ways, more politically pointed. Participation was selective by design. The invitations were only extended to nations that have either joined the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative or have displayed what the organisers believed to be a genuine commitment to phasing out fossil fuels. The focus was therefore not on theoretical statements but on execution.
As such, the co-chair’s statement adopted from the conference included three thematic work streams along with the formation of a voluntary steering committee to develop plans for a national and regional phase-out roadmap. Furthermore, a scientific panel comprising over 250 scientists was constituted to support the process going forward. Further to this, Ireland and Tuvalu indicated their intentions to host a second conference in 2027. This seems to imply that the Santa Marta conference is unlikely to have been a one-off conference, but rather an attempt to create a parallel political track in climate discussions.
None of this means the conference is beyond criticism, especially given that it produced no binding political outcome. Still, the larger shift is difficult to ignore. Santa Marta was less interested in debating whether fossil fuel transition should happen and more interested in identifying which governments were prepared to act as though they eventually will.
While Bangladesh was not entirely absent from Santa Marta—a few civil society delegates attended independently—no official delegation from the government participated. The reason was that Bangladesh failed to fulfil the conditions set out by the organisers of the conference. Countries needed to have aligned with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative or demonstrated a credible commitment to full phase-out. Bangladesh met neither condition.
As of early 2025, renewable energy contributes roughly 3.6 percent of electricity supplied through Bangladesh’s national grid. Even the country’s RMG sector, which contributes most to the GDP, remains far from meeting clear energy consumption targets, according to a recent study. Meanwhile, the country’s major energy investments continue to revolve around imported fossil fuel infrastructure. The Matarbari Power Plant, financed by Japan, remains significantly over schedule and over budget. The Payra Power Plant, financed by China, reflects a similar long-term dependence on coal generation. At the policy level, the draft Energy and Power System Master Plan reportedly allocates more than double the investment emphasis towards LNG infrastructure compared to domestic gas exploration.
Read together, these choices suggest a state still planning around fossil fuel dependency rather than planning a gradual exit from it. Bangladesh’s climate vulnerability is absolutely real. Its emissions contribution remains negligible by global standards. Few countries possess a stronger moral case within international climate politics. This reality has made Bangladesh an important voice on matters of climate justice financing, Loss and Damage, and other issues in this realm over time. However, moral legitimacy is not always equated with policy legitimacy in diplomatic settings. It is not sustainable for a nation to advocate for climate justice abroad while simultaneously ramping up fossil fuel production at home without experiencing any political repercussions in the long run.
The problem here is not simply exclusion from one conference. It is what that exclusion signals about the future of climate diplomacy. Processes like Santa Marta are beginning to shape which countries are treated as credible voices in fossil fuel transition discussions. Bangladesh will still have a seat at COP31 in Antalya, but participation alone does not guarantee influence. That is the real risk.
Bangladesh will not be able to keep on demanding climate justice abroad while simultaneously increasing its reliance on fossils at home, without expecting political repercussions. Indeed, such behaviour is especially regrettable as Bangladesh had the potential to emerge as a pivotal example for energy transition: a climate-vulnerable developing country trying to build itself without committing to more fossil fuels.
However, it may already be too late to establish that image. Santa Marta had an empty chair that could have been filled by Bangladesh. Whether it remains empty at the next conference will depend less on decisions made abroad than on decisions made in Dhaka.
Samim Rahman Bhuiyan is research intern at International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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