Madrid, February 25, 2026 — As part of the event “For a Just Transition from Fossil Fuels,” held today at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, the Declaration “For a Just Transition from Fossil Fuels” was publicly launched, backed by more than 100 Spanish civil society organizations, including Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Ecologistas en Acción, Friends of the Earth, Comisiones Obreras, Unión General de Trabajadoras, Fridays for Future, the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and dozens more.

The meeting, promoted by the Fossil Fuel Treaty campaign in Spain together with Alianza por el Clima, brought together leading voices from academia, politics, and civil society to place the phase-out of fossil fuels at the center of public and political debate, two months before the First International Conference for the Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels, which will take place in the Colombian coal port of Santa Marta from April 24 to 29, 2026, and will be co-organized with the Netherlands.

The Declaration presented recalls that fossil fuel extraction is the main cause of the climate emergency and the basis of an extractivist system that exacerbates inequalities and violates human rights. However, there is currently no binding international legal mechanism capable of curbing its expansion or planning an orderly and just energy transition that will definitively move us away from fossil fuel dependence and its devastating impacts.

In response to this, the signatory organizations demand that the Spanish government:

• Commit to exercising political leadership at the Santa Marta Conference.

• Promote a binding international mechanism within the European Union that establishes a progressive, planned, and fair phase-out of fossil fuels.

• Formally join the international call for a Fossil Fuel Treaty.

Javier Andaluz Prieto from Alianza por el Clima pointed out: "We have been negotiating under the UNFCCC for 30 years, and meanwhile, fossil fuel production and financing continue to increase. This shows that the current system is not working. We cannot leave the energy transition in the hands of the market. We need a clear, binding, and equitable plan to break our dependence on fossil fuels without leaving any country, worker, or community behind. Spain has the opportunity to take on a decisive role in Europe and the world by joining the Fossil Fuel Treaty before or during the historic Santa Marta Conference. The time is now."

Ester Galende, coordinator of the Fossil Fuel Treaty campaign in Spain, said: "With this declaration, Spanish civil society is sending a clear message to the government: Spain must arrive in Santa Marta as a country willing to exercise its leadership on climate issues and promote the creation of a new binding international instrument to accelerate a just global transition. Our country now has the opportunity—and the responsibility—to join the call for a Fossil Fuel Treaty. We are not just talking about climate; we are talking about social justice, energy sovereignty, and political coherence. Santa Marta must be the moment when our country takes this courageous and necessary step."