Dutch Climate Minister Says Talks to Quit Fossil Fuels Have Momentum
Countries that move away from oil and gas will be “shielding their economies against the kinds of price shocks that we’re seeing currently,” said Stientje van Veldhoven.
Stientje van Veldhoven speaks during the Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, on April 28.
Photographer: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty ImagesThe 50-plus nations that attended the Santa Marta, Colombia, conference on exiting fossil fuels accounted for about 30% of global GDP and roughly 30% of the world’s oil, gas and coal consumption, giving the event enough weight to show that a phaseout is viable, said Dutch Climate and Green Growth Minister Stientje van Veldhoven.
“If these countries significantly reduce their dependency on fossil fuels, it means that they’ll be investing in their own economy instead of importing fossil fuels from abroad,” van Veldhoven said Wednesday in an interview on the sidelines of the conference, which was co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands. “It means that they’ll be investing in clean technologies, but it also means that they’ll be shielding their economies against the kind of price shocks that we’re seeing currently.”