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As gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials and civ­il so­ci­ety ac­tors de­scend­ed on St Lu­cia this month, oil prices were ris­ing, buoyed on by a war in the Mid­dle East that has over­shad­owed the one in Eu­rope. St Lu­cia was the des­ti­na­tion for some of the finest minds in the re­gion to con­vene for a meet­ing on a glob­al just tran­si­tion from fos­sil fu­els. A pre­cur­sor to the much-an­tic­i­pat­ed First Con­fer­ence on Tran­si­tion­ing Away from Fos­sil Fu­els, in San­ta Mar­ta, Colom­bia be­tween April 24 and 29. The con­ven­ing would ul­ti­mate­ly har­monise the Caribbean's po­si­tion ahead of the in­ter­na­tion­al sum­mit.

But even in the qui­et re­treat of the Bay Gar­dens con­fer­ence room, the world's in­sa­tiable ap­petite for fos­sil fu­els could not be hid­den. It gave cre­dence to the up­hill task the Fos­sil Fu­el Treaty Ini­tia­tive faces in its mis­sion. The Fos­sil Fu­el Treaty Ini­tia­tive is an al­liance of 18 na­tion-states, 193 sub­na­tion­al gov­ern­ments, up­wards of 4,200 or­gan­i­sa­tions and in­sti­tu­tions work­ing to se­cure a glob­al just tran­si­tion from coal, oil and gas. But the Caribbean del­e­gates weren't alone. At the same hour, gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials and civ­il so­ci­ety ac­tors were al­so meet­ing in Nairo­bi, Kenya, chart­ing a sim­i­lar path.

Yet, those lead­ing this Fos­sil Fu­el Treaty Ini­tia­tive have been re­al­is­tic and hon­est in their ex­pec­ta­tions; they don't ex­pect to leave Colom­bia with a phase out plan.