As COP30 drew to a close, the decisions before me were difficult, and I believe I made the right one, grounded in humanity and in the defence of life, which is the guiding purpose of my political project for a renewed progressivism in the world. The climate crisis exposes the starkest contradiction of capitalism. Either fossil capitalism survives, and drags humanity to its grave, or a green capitalism emerges - an unlikely scenario given President Trump’s election and his irrational stance toward the climate crisis, or humanity will be compelled to rise against fossil capital. Decarbonization is indispensable and must be swift. We have no time left to lose; the climate clock is advancing rapidly and unpredictably towards collapse. The COPs have not fulfilled their purpose and must not become ceremonies; they must become assemblies of the peoples of the world. As a head of state and as the president of a country abundant in life, I decided to stand firm. I know we were left alone. I did not expect the European Union and the African Union to step away, but they did. As for the oil-producing Arab countries and Venezuela, I can understand their position; they live off oil, but they must also understand that oil only draws wars toward them. The shift from fossil capital to green capital must accelerate. Across the world, it is understood that Colombia and Latin America, like Africa, stand to gain from decarbonization. The same is true, to a considerable extent, for Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, though their political forces have not yet fully grasped this reality. That is why I am, in a sense, a dissident within a left that I sometimes call ‘fossil.’ Because to speak once again of revolution, we must defossilize our thinking and embrace universality. The COP30 declaration is not legitimate if even one country objects. It is a flawed formula, but it is the formula that exists. Under that rule, Colombia, and I know we stand alone, objects to the declaration because it fails to state something essential: 75% of the climate crisis is caused by the use of coal, oil, and Hydrocarbon gas. Every molecule emitted from these sources worsens global warming and pushes the climate crisis towards collapse. Climate collapse is the collapse of life across the entire planet. To exclude this, at the closing of COP30, in the Amazon rainforest itself, is an affront to humanity. I oppose it as the representative of the Colombian nation. This is, quite simply, the decisive moment. There is no time left to lose. I know that decarbonization requires a transformation on a global scale, a revolution. But it must be undertaken if humanity is to live on for millennia, or even millions of years, in the universe.(Gustavo Petro)