GENEVA, April 29, 2024 — This week, Azerbaijan, host of this year’s UN climate summit (COP29), announced that they intend to defend the right of oil and gas-producing nations to invest in the sector.
As the host of COP29 in November, Azerbaijan will oversee negotiations among nearly 200 countries on how to raise more finance to combat climate change and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions heating the planet.
Erika Lennon, Senior Attorney at Center for International Environmental Law, commented:
“During the last climate talks, under the Presidency of a petrostate, Parties accepted Azerbaijan’s offer to host COP29 despite its restrictions on free speech and history of fossil fuel-linked diplomatic scandals.
History is repeating itself as the new Presidency reaffirms its commitment to support the interests of fossil fuels producers when fossil fuels are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis and resultant human rights abuses.
Putting yet another climate conference in the hands of a petrostate is a glaring reminder of the gross conflicts of interest currently dominating international climate policy.
World leaders must learn from the failures of COP28 and urgently establish robust guardrails against corporate capture to protect what little credibility is left in this process.”
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Picture: “Baku, Azerbaijan” by teuchterlad | CC BY 2.0.