FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NOVEMBER 12, 2026

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50+ Organizations at COP 31 Call on Governments to Establish Fossil-Free Zones

Declaration Launched on Energy Day Calls Fossil Free Zones a Concrete First Step Toward Comprehensive Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Plans

ANTALYA, TÜRKIYE — More than 50  organizations from around the world have signed a declaration, released today at the UN Climate Summit (COP31), calling on governments to establish Fossil Free Zones (FFZs) as a concrete starting point for a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. The full declaration and list of signatories can be found here.

The declaration urges governments to halt new fossil fuel exploration and expansion, and to prioritize the responsible closure of existing projects, in territories of high ecological, climatic and cultural importance. Signatories include World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Parliamentarians for a Fossil Free Future and Science Panel for the Amazon, alongside Indigenous, community and grassroots groups from Latin America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe and North America.

"Nearly three years after the commitment to transition away from fossil fuels and halt and reverse deforestation were adopted under the first Global Stocktake (GST1) at COP28, international negotiations have still not delivered a clear implementation pathway. COP31 must break this impasse and renew political momentum for this agenda," says the declaration. "FFZs are a concrete first step towards comprehensive fossil fuel phase-out plans and a powerful tool to turn global commitments into immediate territorial action."

Fossil Free Zones are geographically defined areas permanently protected from fossil fuel exploration, extraction and related infrastructure because of their ecological, cultural, biodiversity or socio-economic importance. Because they build on instruments governments already hold, such as protected areas, land-use planning, licensing rules and the recognition of Indigenous territories, they offer a low-cost, practical first step within national transition roadmaps. They are an onramp to a full phase-out aligned with 1.5°C, not an alternative to it, and can be included in a Fossil Fuel Treaty, complement efforts by the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance and support plans to end all new fossil fuel licensing.

The declaration draws on growing evidence. Roughly 27% of global oil resources lie beneath critical ecosystems and areas of high social and cultural value, and oil and gas concessions already overlap about 21% of tropical moist forests. Frontier reserves are also among the least competitive barrels in a declining market: in the Colombian Amazon, developing untapped reserves would lose money for investors under every International Energy Agency scenario.

Developing countries have already shown what FFZs look like in practice. Mexico has set aside 100 million hectares of Safeguard Zones, Belize has placed its waters off-limits to offshore oil and gas, and Guatemala has ended oil extraction in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. More than 500 local and subnational zones are recorded worldwide. Colombia's experience shows why these protections need lasting legal footing: the new government revoked the previous administration's ban on new oil, gas and large-scale mining contracts in the Amazon in October.

The signatories call on governments at COP31 to:

• Implement Fossil Free Zones in critical ecosystems by identifying and establishing them in territories of high ecological, climatic and cultural importance, and prioritizing these life zones in national TAFF and deforestation roadmaps and NDC implementation to translate the first Global Stocktake's outcomes into national action, demonstrating measurable progress as the second Global Stocktake begins.
• Support Fossil Free Zones in international processes, recognizing them in the COP30 Brazilian Presidency's roadmaps initiative and the Santa Marta–Tuvalu process as an immediate, actionable measure within a broader policy package, so that COP31 marks a step forward in implementing the UAE Consensus.
• Advance the just transition through concrete territorial action, recognizing FFZs as a tool to implement a just transition at the territorial level that puts into practice the key elements recognized in paragraph 12 of Decision 2/CMA.7, including Indigenous Peoples' rights, ecosystem integrity and sustainable economic opportunities, and considering these approaches in the development of the Just Transition Mechanism at COP31.

Available for interviews (in-person in Antalya and remotely):

• Irene Vélez Torres, former Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development (2025 to 2026) and former Minister of Mines and Energy (2022 to 2023) of Colombia
• Ignacio Arróniz Velasco, Senior Associate for Diplomacy, Earth Insight
• Florencia Ortúzar Greene, Climate Director at the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defence (AIDA).
• Karla Maas, Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance
• Pascal Mirindi, National Coordinator of Notre Terre Sans Pétrole (DRC).
• Gerry Arances, Executive Director of Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Philippines

Quotes:

• The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe, and should be the most obvious place to draw the line against new fossil fuel development. Yet Norway continues to explore aggressively for new oil and gas in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions. The EU, Norway’s largest oil and gas customer, has already said no to new Arctic oil and gas. Norway should listen, stop exploring for new oil and gas resources, and help make the Arctic a fossil-free zone, says Susanne Waage, Fossil Fuel Transition Lead at WWF Norway
• Greenland and Canada have already taken action to protect their Arctic territories from fossil fuel expansion. When more than 200 financial institutions, scientists, and unions called on the EU to oppose new Arctic oil and gas earlier this year, the EU listened. Now it is time for Norway to follow suit and declare its Arctic territory a Fossil-Free Zone, instead of chasing new oil and gas projects. Doing so would deliver protection to one of the world's most vulnerable, climate-stressed ecosystems, while serving as a concrete starting point for a just transition away from fossil fuels, says Dina Rui, senior advisor at the Nordic Center for Sustainable Finance.
• Some countries in Central America and the Caribbean already have developed fossil fuel moratoriums in their territories, they recognize not only that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming, but also how vulnerable to climate change impacts our countries are. Yet the expansion of new oil and gas explorations continues putting at risk millions of livelihoods around the Caribbean Sea. That’s why we need international support to recognize Fossil Free Zones as an actionable measure that can protect our vulnerable region and promote a just and popular transition in the Wider Caribbean. Carolina Sánchez, spokesperson for the Fossil Free Wider Caribbean Network.

About the Fossil Free Zones Working Group

The Fossil Free Zones Working Group is a coalition of 25+ NGOs and Indigenous organizations, supported by a wider circle of 100+ organizations, working to make Fossil Free Zones a recognized instrument of a just and orderly transition away from fossil fuels. It is coordinated by Earth Insight, GGON, ClimaInfo and the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance. Learn more here.

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List of signatories (11 Nov, 14:00 Antalya)

1. Den Grønne Ungdomsbevægelse
2. The Common Initiative
3. Art in Defence of Humanism
4. Transforma
5. Centre of Excellence Jean Monnet on Just Fossil Fuel Transitions
6. ARAYARA International Institute
7. Jubilee Australia Research Centre
8. Rainforest Foundation Norway
9. Naturschutzjugend im NABU (Naturschutzbund)
10. Servas International
11. EWII
12. GARN- Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature
13. Lund University
14. Fossil Free Wider Caribbean Network
15. Mothers Rise Up
16. Science Panel for the Amazon-SPA
17. Parliamentarians for a Fossil-Free Future
18. third act
19. Lund University
20. Umoe
21. CNRS
22. Aalborg University
23. Rapid Transition Alliance
24. The Fridtjof Nansen Institute
25. University of Amsterdam
26. AIDA
27. La Raiz
28. Climate Reality Corps
29. Latin American and Caribbean Network for Economic, Social, and Climate Justice - LATINDADD
30. Instituto de Energia e Meio Ambiente
31. Nordic Center for Sustainable Finance
32. CONSALP
33. Amazon Watch
34. CORAP
35. Fridays For Future Fukuoka
36. Profile
37. Aid Life Learn Environment ( ALLEN)
38. ClimaInfo
39. Keshio Yetu Coalition
40. Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO)
41. Notre Terre Sans Petrole
42. The Climate Reality Project America Latina
43. Stand.earth
44. WWF International