A panel of global experts has been launched to provide scientific input for countries that want to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and manage the growing risks of high oil prices, geopolitical conflict and extreme weather damage. The initiative was announced on the opening day of a groundbreaking climate action meeting in Santa Marta, where the Colombian hosts set out a draft roadmap for their own national energy transition. It marked a high-ambition start to the first global conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. The event , from 24-29 April, has brought together more than 50 nations, dozens of subnational governments and an estimated 2,800 civil society representatives in a “coalition of the willing” aimed at reinvigorating international efforts to reduce planet-heating emissions from oil, gas and coal. The new science panel for global energy transition is intended to add intellectual weight to those efforts.…