How coal giant Colombia is trying to wean its economy off fossil fuels
Colombia has become the first major coal producer to join a group of nations calling for the end of fossil fuels, in a bid to escape the economic trap it could face as the world ditches the dirtiest forms of energy.
South America’s top miner of the black rock, which is also a significant crude exporter, said it was joining the movement seeking to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty during the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The initiative, which now includes 11 countries, 100 cities and thousands of nonprofits, is inspired by the Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that slowed the spread of the most destructive armaments in the 1960s and ’70s.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: fossil fuels
Fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas, primarily — remain the dominant energy sources for much of the world, with their accompanying infrastructure of mines, drilling and production wells, pipelines and various forms of transportation. But they have become more problematic as governments struggle to address climate change and pivot to energy sources that do not result in carbon dioxide emissions.