Azerbaijan to Host COP29 in 2024
In November 2023, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During the annual COP meetings, over 199 countries come together to negotiate on global climate agreements and emissions reductions targets. In the past, the COP meetings have led to landmark developments such as the Paris Agreement at COP21. However, the most recent iterations of the conference have been steeped in controversy for their deep connections to the fossil fuel industry.
At COP28, the conference was not only held in the UAE, a major producer and exporter of fossil fuels, but negotiations were headed by Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Observers and journalists questioned in the leadup to the conference whether designating an oil executive as President of COP28 would contribute to the goals of the COP meetings—to address climate change and move away from fossil fuels. While some substantial progress was made at COP28 with the introduction of the Loss and Damage Fund to aid countries vulnerable to climate change, it is a worrying pattern that in 2024, COP29 will also be held in an oil-exporting state with negotiations headed by an oil executive.
In December 2023, it was announced that Azerbaijan, a South Caucasus country, would host the next major climate summit. Oil and gas production are the backbones of the Azerbaijani economy, especially after signing a major energy deal to supply Europe after a shift away from Russian gas in 2022. So, Azerbaijan’s suitability to lead climate talks intended to shift the world away from fossil fuels is highly questionable. To make matters worse, Azerbaijan has also named an oil executive to lead the climate negotiations - Mukhtar Babayev, a former executive at the Azerbaijani state oil and gas company Socar. Azerbaijan’s controversial candidacy to host the talks was swiftly followed by news that the country would increase its gas production by 33% in the next 10 years - which are considered a crucial time to phase out harmful fossil fuels to address the climate crisis.
So, it is difficult to imagine how Azerbaijan and other oil-rich states will meaningfully lead global attempts to phase out fossil fuels while being run by industry interests. While it is true that any global energy transition must work with and alongside fossil fuel producers, allowing these states and industries to dictate or heavily influence global environmental negotiations limits progress at a time when the world needs it most. Moving forward, the UN and global partners must be able to make significant strides toward phasing out fossil fuels and facilitating the green energy transition, and global summits like COP are a historically significant forum for doing so. Allowing these industry interests and oil and gas producers to have such an impact on critical climate negotiations will surely delay crucial forward progress and momentum.