France, April 30 -- Participants gathered for several days in Santa Marta, a coal port on Colombia's Caribbean coast, for talks focused directly on winding down fossil fuel production rather than only cutting emissions.

While the meeting produced no binding commitments by the time it wrapped up on Wednesday, it launched working groups on financing and labour transitions, plans for continued cooperation and momentum toward future negotiations.

"Cops are more formal, negotiators have their lines and they will not cross them - it's so different here," said former Irish president Mary Robinson, now a climate justice advocate, referring to UN climate conferences.

Participants "have felt more human together", she said.

Debt and limited reso...