Santa Marta Conference: "We have commercial reasons to move towards climate action" (W. Hoekstra)

"The energy crisis is a reality check. In Europe, we are losing half a billion euros each day this war continues. But the effects are everywhere. We already had a very good reason to move on for climate action with transitioning away. We now also have commercial reasons and reasons of independence to move forward", declares Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, on 28/04/2026, during the high-level discussions at the Santa Marta Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels (TAFF).

"We all know that, although we wish otherwise, the COP process is unfortunately not always delivering what it should. It means we need to improve that, but, at the same time, we need to make sure we make the most of these plurilateral initiatives", he says.

"Science matters", Hoekstra continues. "It matters in medicine, it matters in chemistry, it matters in physics, and it certainly matters in the domain of climate change. And transitioning away from fossil fuels is a very tangible way to follow science."

"That is what inspired so many of us to agree to the Dubai…