Global blocs and blockades have brought the 2024 Climate Summit (COP29) to a petrostate whose GDP is 64% dependent on oil and gas. Azerbaijan, which occupies 23rd place in the world corruption ranking, has placed Muhktar Babayev, its Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, who worked for 24 years for the Azeri national oil company, at the head of the COP. Socar, until joining the Government.
When it came to choosing the location of the 2024 climate negotiations – at the end of last year’s COP in Dubai – the UN rotation indicated that they should take place in Eastern Europe . Russia’s veto of any country interested but integrated into the European Union (like Bulgaria) and the impossibility of meeting in a state at war (like Ukraine) left few possibilities. The UN was considering hosting the summit at its headquarters in Bonn (Germany), but Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light to Azerbaijan’s option and Armenia did not object, despite the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The UN climate summit thus stopped for the third time in a row in a petro-state: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and now Azerbaijan. And, also for the third time in a row, the conversations will be guided by a Sir fossil fuels: a former director of Socar.
Large global producer
The shadow of contradiction hangs over yet another summit organized by a “petro-state”: a country whose economy depends on the continued extraction and sale of oil and gas. An activity which involves burning more and more fossil fuels and therefore emitting more and more greenhouse gases.
Azerbaijan is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil. More than 30 million tonnes per year, according to the World Energy Organization (IEO). And it is also “one of the largest exporters of oil and gas” on the planet, adds the IEO.
With this in mind, two thirds of the Azerbaijani economy depends on this fossil fuel trade. This percentage was even higher than that of the previous COP host, the United Arab Emirates. About 90% of the country’s exports are crude oil and gas (more than $30 billion per year).
This year, Azerbaijan’s gas exports have already increased by more than 5.5%. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the European Union and Azerbaijan signed a commitment for the Caucasus country to double the amount of gas it sells to the EU in 2027.
The presidency of the COP went to Mukhtar Babayev, who held several positions within Socar. Babayev is led by his deputy minister Elmur Soltanov (who joined him in the ministry from the national oil company) as his right-hand man. A few days ago, the BBC revealed that Soltanov, executive director of COP29, had agreed to promote fossil fuel deals at the climate summit. During the conversation, Soltanov told a fake group of investors that he would be “glad to facilitate contact” between that group and the Azerbaijani national oil company.
The episode is reminiscent of the one in which the president of COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, played last year, when he declared during a non-public meeting that “ there is no scientific evidence” which would justify the reduction of fossil resources. fuel consumption. Al Jaber handed over the baton to Babayev on Monday during the opening day of the COP in Baku.
The fossil fuel industry’s attempt to infiltrate climate summits continues. In recent years, more than 8,500 delegates registered for these negotiations have come from oil and gas companies. To date, this dynamic has not been stopped as the World Health Organization did by banning the presence of tobacco company delegates at anti-tobacco summits.
Autocracy at the forefront of negotiations
This Tuesday, the meeting of heads of state and government on the occasion of the summit will be held in the Azeri capital. Many presidents and prime ministers are already there. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took the opportunity to have his photo taken with many of them. This Monday again, he met the presidents of Finland and Slovakia, the Belgian Prime Minister and the President of the European Council. Aliyev leads an autocratic state and has served as president since 2003, when he inherited it directly from his father, Heydar Aliyev.
Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt states in the world, according to Transparency International. The organization describes that it continues with serious cases of corruption “due to authoritarian control of institutions.” And he adds that this corruption is applied to “stay in power”. The situation affects “several levels of the State and undermines social and civil rights”.
Even if the climate playing field is unclear before it begins, the outcome of COP29 remains to be decided. Last year, after an extra day and a half of negotiations and a threat from the European Union, the move away from dirty energy was included in the final declaration: “Moving away from fossil fuels” was the phrase . In this edition we will talk more about the money that rich states must pay to poor countries to transition away from the use of fossil fuels. Fuels that this year’s host still seems addicted to.
