This two-day Pre-Conference convenes leading scholars, policy innovators, analysts, and advocacy organisations to advance cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research on the demand- and supply-side phase-out of fossil fuels. The outcomes will directly inform the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels.
The Science Pre-Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels brings together experts from economics, political science, law, sociology, etc. to address one of the most pressing governance challenges of our time: how to manage a rapid, fair, and effective transition away from fossil fuels.
Building on insights from previous International Conferences on Fossil Fuel Supply and Climate Policy, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, and the work of the World Commission on the Fossil Fuel Phaseout, and the Salzburg Dialogues on Prosperity Post Fossil Fuels, among others, the event will showcase novel research on managed decline pathways, political feasibility, and legal and institutional innovations. A central aim is to strengthen the link between research and policymaking to help shape actionable, evidence-based phaseout strategies and to inform efforts to shape global and national phaseout roadmaps.
Synthesise research on transition pathways.
Examine emerging legal innovations that can support a global framework for managing the decline of fossil fuels.
Analyse political feasibility and governance challenges.
- Explore strategies for government decision-making, and international cooperation.
- Fiscal dependence and public debt
- Energy security
- Productive reconversion without creating new forms of extractivism
- Shared responsibilities and joint efforts
- Demand: fuel switching, phase-out of key demand drivers, and energy access
- Supply: exploration and extraction licensing, and planning for managed closures.
- Incentives: from fossil fuel subsidies to clean energy investment
Closing gaps in implementation, governance, and cooperation
Addressing international legal barriers, particularly those arising from investor–State dispute settlement (ISDS)
We are working on an overview paper that summarizes the best available science on transitioning away from fossil fuels in a systemic fashion. A first draft of the synthesis paper will be discussed at the Pre-Conference. The full synthesis paper will be published later in the year.
