While ongoing discussions center around the commitment of national governments towards the shift away from fossil fuels, requiring widespread systemic changes in global trade, national energy security and economic development, many local and regional governments are ready and willing to act to shift their communities towards a more resilient, secured and sustainable energy systems.

Serving as a forum convening like-minded stakeholders including national and subnational governments, civil society, and the private sector, the First Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels is a promising way forward. To be held on 24-29 April in Santa Marta, Colombia, the conference aims to align global demands for a shift away from fossil fuels, bringing together committed actors to streamline efforts, identify implementation pathways, and create a shared understanding of what a just and equitable transition could look like. 

Co-hosted by the Governments of Colombia and the Netherlands, the Conference sits outside the formal United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation tracks. But it connects closely with the UNFCCC Action Agenda and aims to synergize with the COP30 Presidency Roadmap for Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels. 

How cities can drive the transition away from fossil fuels

Local governments have limited authority over fossil fuel based generation and supply, which is typically a national level priority. In this case, dialogue with and action from national governments is critical, involving the careful consideration of the socio-economic costs such a transition can entail. However, local governments are well-positioned to act on other fronts—on the energy demand side, they can help transform their buildings sector and vehicle fleets to be powered by clean fuels and renewable energy, while conserving energy where possible and improving overall efficiency. 

Local governments can even act on the local generation side – for example, by pushing for the expansion of local renewable energy, providing clean (low carbon) alternatives to fossil fuels, and in doing so supporting efforts to displace them. More systemic transformations are possible, contingent on political will and community readiness. They have numerous tools at their disposal, from sustainable public procurement and permitting or approval powers, to the transformation of their own assets and encouraging similar transformations in their businesses and communities through financial or technical support. 

Turku, Finland, for example, operationalized its carbon neutrality targets by directly focusing on replacing fossil fuels with renewables and electricity as part of a broader systemic change rather than relying on offsets. The city set a 2029 target for carbon neutrality and defined a clear plan: Enabling the replacement of existing fossil fuel infrastructure by upgrading the district-heating network, electrifying end uses, and capturing waste heat. 

Muğla, Türkiye, demonstrates the other side of the coin: Where the local economy and employment depends on the coal supply chain—from mines to power plants— any technical plan needs a strong social package due to the high health and environmental costs associated with coal. Muğla’s metropolitan approach is pairing this coal phase-out with local renewable projects, land-use planning and workforce reskilling. 

A practical checklist for local and regional governments

• Dialogues and interaction: The power of exchanging with peers and learning about promising approaches within a specific regional or geographic context, facilitated by various partners, cannot be underestimated. Prior to the Santa Marta Conference, several regional cooperation platforms have been in place. The Asia LEDS Platform (ALP), under the Global Climate Action Partnership hosted by UNOPS, is one such example. It supports countries across the Asia-Pacific region, including Small Island Developing States, through South–South cooperation.

ALP helps advance national climate commitments and long-term low-emissions strategies, while supporting key sectoral transitions. This work is delivered through targeted Communities of Practice: On transport decarbonization and net-zero mobility, energy systems and grid integration, and coordination between national and local governments to better localize climate commitments.

• Local energy planning: The next step for interested local or regional governments is to begin planning – developing local sustainable energy action roadmaps can help unify LRG priorities in pursuit of a transition in the local energy system. Such an exercise, involving significant data collection, energy systems modelling and policy analyses, and political support can help mobilize various stakeholders within and around LRGs towards the goal of expanding RE generation, and energy efficiency and conservation solutions, and in effect transitioning away from fossil fuels. For example, this is exactly what cities and regions did under the 100% Renewables Cities and Regions Roadmap project – envisioning and developing roadmaps towards a fossil-fuel free future for their communities.

• Implementing solutions: LRGs often have oversight over buildings, local transportation, water and waste water management among municipal services and in some cases directly oversee electricity and energy access to their respective communities as well. For example, in South Africa, municipalities are crucial, distribute over 40% of electricity and are reliant on electricity sales for revenue. To support South Africa’s phase-out of coal-fired generation and drive a just energy transition, efforts such as the Just Municipal Embedded Generation (JMEG) project empowers local governments to develop RE within boundaries. Municipalities can do this in collaboration with partners for project preparation support, including pre-feasibility studies, financial models, transaction structures, and regulatory guidance, which the JMEG project provides.

• Ensuring justice and equity: Finally, to ensure the sustainability of this shift, LRGs can support community-led renewable energy programs, helping reduce local economic dependence on fossil fuels while accelerating the transition to inclusive, decentralized energy systems. Such programs empower residents, including underserved groups, to co-design and co-own RE projects, such as solar installations on public buildings. Projects such as INCLU:DE provided guidance for LRGs to undertake such efforts. Municipalities can help communities to replace fossil fuel reliance by providing guidance, resources, and institutional backing, for example, the Telheiras/Lumiar REC in Portugal, which was developed with support from the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH).

Ahead of the Santa Marta Conference, ICLEI and C40 are co-hosting a virtual consultation with local governments to gather examples to feed into the outcomes from the conference, connect cities, share experiences, and identify the support needed to accelerate action.

International forums can create national momentum, open doors and create new connections, but the best outcome for local and regional governments is whether this momentum ultimately results in real changes on the ground—funded projects, reconfigured infrastructure and fair social outcomes. 

The Santa Marta Conference offers a platform and dialogue opportunity and is a promising step forward. All stakeholders must continue this process and help realize concrete projects and approaches on the ground that deliver just and equitable outcomes. Cities like Turku and Muğla show it can be done, and ICLEI’s support is available for others intent on undertaking this journey.