The contributions of national oil companies (NOCs) are key to producing individual countries' roadmaps to phase out fossil fuels, Colombia's environment minister Irene Velez-Torres said during an event to discuss the transition away from fossil fuels.
The event — which ran from 24-29 April in Santa Marta, Colombia — gathered around 60 countries, but had no representation from NOCs. Those companies together account for around 50pc of the world's oil and natural gas production and will be responsible for 62pc of that by 2050, according to the Natural Resource Governance Institute NRGI.
That absence was a "major blind spot" of the conference, according to NRGI's Latin American director Ana Carolina Gonzalez. "The next step must bring them in as essential partners in any credible transition roadmap."
Aiding countries on creating their own roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels was one of three workstream's agreed by the conference's participating countries.
"We hope that countries can think about how their own [national] companies should be included [in their roadmaps]", Velez-Torres said, adding that NOCs should have their own transition targets.
Brazilian state-controlled Petrobras outlines $13bn for energy transition investments in its 2026-30 business plan, a 20pc decrease from the previous five-year plan. The firm outlines $4.8bn to bioproducts — including ethanol, biodiesel and biomethane — and $4.3bn to decarbonisation operations. Investments in low-carbon energies reach $3.1bn. It also earmarks $4bn on gas and low-carbon energy projects.
Colombia's state-controlled Ecopetrol plans to allocate about 3pc of its 2026 budget, or 900bn Colombian pesos ($248.9mn), to energy transition projects, including non-conventional renewable energy — excluding large hydropower plants — and energy-efficiency initiatives. That is a 59pc decline from the Ps2.2 trillion invested in energy transition projects as of the third quarter of 2025, which accounted for 13pc of that year's planned spending.
