The gradual phasing out of fossil fuels worldwide must be guided by human rights.

Residents living near a coal plant in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, are breathing 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 EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) have been arrested and criminally prosecuted for speaking out against the expansion of fossil fuels. These are not abstract statistics but concrete human rights and fossil fuel production issues.

Yet, as over 50 governments gather this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first international conference on energy transition and phasing out fossil fuels, human rights concerns are absent from the agenda.

The conference, co-organized by Colombia and the Netherlands, comes at a critical moment. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that our dependence on fossil fuels is destabilizing 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 towards their gradual elimination.

This week’s meeting is expected to accelerate progress on transition. However, it must not treat human rights as a secondary consideration.

The combustion of fossil fuels is a major factor in air pollution, identified by the World Health Organization as the greatest threat to human health globally, causing approximately seven million deaths each year. Putting rights at risk leaves communities already victimized by fossil fuel extraction and its devastating effects vulnerable.

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 jeopardizes 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 based on human rights law and takes into account the contributions of the most affected 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.