From the Flight Deck to the Frontlines of Climate Action: Safe Landing at the Santa Marta Conference
In April 2026, almost 60 countries gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia for the first-ever international diplomatic conference dedicated specifically to transitioning away from fossil fuels and accelerating the goals of the Paris Agreement. Read more about the conference here.
Alongside governments, the conference brought together Indigenous representatives, trade unions, NGOs, academics, youth groups, and workers from carbon-intensive sectors. Safe Landing co-founder Todd Smith attended on behalf of aviation workers, contributing to discussions on how workers and communities can shape a fair transition away from fossil fuels.
The conference marked a significant shift in global climate politics. Unlike the UN COP process, which operates by consensus and is often slowed by resistance from major fossil fuel-producing states, the Santa Marta gathering was intentionally framed as a “coalition of the willing”. Countries including the US, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and India were notably absent. Instead of focusing on negotiation and compromise, the process focused on collaboration, participation, and implementation.
This alternative approach emerged in the aftermath of COP30, where the final negotiated text failed to include meaningful language on transitioning away from fossil fuels. In response, participating governments and civil society organisations sought to create a new space capable of moving beyond political deadlock.
Importantly, the conference was hosted in the Global South. Holding the event in Colombia – a country deeply impacted by both extractive practices and colonial histories – helped centre the voices and experiences of communities on the frontlines of climate breakdown. The organisers also structured the process to prioritise participation from groups often marginalised in international diplomacy, including Afro-descendant communities, women, Indigenous peoples, trade unions, and civil society organisations.
Why Safe Landing Was Invited
Safe Landing became involved through engagement with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative, which has increasingly advocated for participatory climate processes that include workers from fossil fuel-dependent industries.
After contributing to earlier online consultations and written submissions, Safe Landing was formally invited by the Colombian and Dutch governments to participate in the in-person assemblies in Santa Marta.
For Todd, the invitation represented an important recognition that aviation workers must have a seat at the table in conversations about climate transition.
“Too often, workers are spoken about, rather than spoken with,” Todd reflected after the conference. “What made Santa Marta feel different was the emphasis on participation and collaboration across movements, sectors and countries.”
Bringing an Aviation Worker Perspective
Todd first participated in the conference’s People’s Summit, representing the broader social movement space from an aviation perspective.
One of Safe Landing’s key contributions was advocating for the polluter pays principle within aviation: including proposals for aviation taxation mechanisms that could help fund renewable energy and support energy transitions from fossil fuels in the Global South.
The following day, Todd joined a participatory pre-assembly process where delegates reviewed and debated draft recommendations developed through previous written and oral consultations. Discussions focused on three major pillars:
- Overcoming economic dependence [on fossil fuels]
- Transforming supply and demand
- Advancing international cooperation and climate diplomacy
Unlike COP negotiations, the objective was not to produce another set of voluntary climate targets or a legally binding agreement. Instead, participants focused on practical pathways for how countries and communities can actually transition away from fossil fuels.
As Todd described it:
“COPs often focus on negotiating targets. This process was much more about collaboration and implementation — asking how we actually deliver the transition in practice.”
The assemblies themselves were hosted at Universidad del Magdalena in Santa Marta, where delegates from around the world participated in facilitated discussions and collective drafting sessions.
Alongside the participatory assemblies, the conference also included scientific panels featuring leading climate researchers and academics, including Earth system scientist Johan Rockström. One of the central themes emerging from these sessions was the need for climate policymaking to be guided by scientific reality rather than short-term political calculations.
Workers’ Assemblies and a Just Transition
One of the strongest themes to emerge throughout the conference was the importance of worker participation in designing and delivering climate transitions.
During discussions under the conference’s “International Collaboration” pillar, Todd highlighted the role that Workers’ Assemblies could play in ensuring transitions are fair, democratic, and grounded in lived experience.
Safe Landing argued that workers should not simply be consulted after decisions have already been made. Instead, workers must be actively involved in shaping the transition itself — alongside affected communities and the wider public. The proposal resonated strongly within the assemblies.
Todd and other delegates ultimately voted for a black woman from a South African NGO to bring a collective civil society summary into the conference’s high-level plenary discussions.
For Safe Landing, the conversations in Santa Marta reinforced the growing international recognition that climate action cannot succeed without democratic participation from workers.
What Happens Next?
The outputs from the Santa Marta assemblies have been compiled into an initial summary report, with a more detailed roadmap expected in Bonn Climate Change Conference and London Climate Action Week respectively. The outcomes are also expected to help inform wider international discussions being led by the Brazilian COP30 presidency on pathways for transitioning away from fossil fuels.
A future conference is already planned for 2027 in Tuvalu, including a pre-assembly in Ireland. Find out more about this here.
For Safe Landing, the conference also opened new possibilities for future organising within aviation.
Following extensive discussions around worker participation, we’re now exploring proposals for an international Aviation Workers’ Assembly connected to the next stage of the transition conference process – potentially at the next pre-assembly in Ireland in early 2027.
Such an assembly could create a unique space for aviation workers globally to engage directly with communities already experiencing the impacts of climate breakdown and false climate solutions — including displacement, land grabbing, deforestation linked to biofuels, and problematic offsetting schemes.
It would also help ensure that workers themselves are involved in shaping the future of aviation, rather than having decisions imposed from above.
As climate diplomacy enters a new phase, Santa Marta may ultimately be remembered not simply as another conference, but as the beginning of a broader movement to build climate transitions from the ground up — with workers, communities, and the global majority at its centre.