The UN climate change conference “COP29” will be held in Baku

The annual UN climate conference in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, began this week and will last until November 22.

In it, many countries emphasize focusing on the Green Course, the desire to reduce the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and continue the decarbonization of the economy. But, for example, the British Labor government advocates the Green Course in words, and the British oil giant “British Petroleum” – the largest foreign investor in Azerbaijan – actively continues the extracting fossil fuels and exploring new investments. Also, the new US president, Donald Trump, wants to restart unlimited fossil fuels.

“God’s Gift”

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev praised oil and gas as a “gift from God” in his opening speech to conference participants. That is paying countries to bring these resources to market “when people need it”.

Aliyev accused the European Union (EU) of hypocrisy in asking Azerbaijan to double its gas supply in 2022 after Russia fully invaded Ukraine.

Analysts note that it is rare to find such ruthless political attacks and open defense of fossil fuels at the opening of international conferences, especially in the speeches of guest speakers. A year ago, the United Arab Emirates hosted the UN Climate Conference and took a less aggressive stance on fossil fuels, simply recognizing that oil and gas will be important to the global economy for some time to come.

Azerbaijan’s economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas production. By 2022, it accounted for nearly half of the country’s gross domestic product and 92.5% of export earnings. Baku does not participate in Western sanctions against Russia and benefits from relations with the EU. “As the COP29 host country, we strongly support the transition to the Green Course and we are committed to it,” Aliyev said, admitting that “we have to be realistic.” Aliyev confirmed that 72,000 participants from 196 countries, including 80 presidents, vice-presidents and prime ministers, are registered for COP29. Western media note that the leaders of the United States, China, France, Germany, Japan and India are not participating in the meeting in Baku. Russia’s presence at the conference center is marked by slogans about its leadership of the BRICS group of countries, but nothing was said about Moscow’s plans to take the largest oil companies “Gazprom Neft”, “Rosneft” and ” Lukoil” to create the second. the world’s largest oil producer.

Conflicts and contributions

A day after the opening of the conference, the President of Azerbaijan strongly criticized France and the Netherlands for preserving foreign lands, using the word “neocolonialism”. The publication “Politico” reports that

French politicians are furious, and the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnes Panier-Rinaher, has canceled a planned visit to Baku. Aliyev’s comments have also angered the Netherlands.

Climate change and global warming threaten to uproot oceanic island nations and destroy their way of life, so the gathering of Pacific island nations was emotional. Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine was frustrated by climate “campaigners” going home from the conference and restarting their countries’ oil, gas and coal mining. On the other hand, the Prime Minister of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, Deacon Mitchell, spoke about the recent floods and landslides on the island: “Today it may be small island nations, but tomorrow it will be Spain or Florida, and the day. after that – the whole world!”

At the Baku conference, it became clear that the energy giant “Shell” won in court, fulfilling the decision to cancel, which required a 45% reduction in emissions from the fuel that will be he does. This application was started by environmental protection organizations and 17 thousand Dutch citizens. At the same time, the American billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the owner of the newspaper “The Washington Post”, has announced a multi-billion donation to save the environment at the Climate Conference, which has 10 billion allocate dollars to the Earth Fund he created.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in Baku that the UK plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 81% by 2035 compared to 1990s levels.

Britain plans to increase subsidies to companies that build wind farms by 200 million pounds, with another 500 million in 2026.

Officials in Canada, the world’s fourth-largest oil and gas producer, have stressed that, for the first time in its history, the country is “putting significant effort, energy, management and money into to make a difference. ” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaking in Baku a few weeks after devastating floods killed more than 200 people in the east of the country, admitted that the disaster would have been less if he had not wanted impact of climate change: “It’s a threat to existence.”

In the shadow of Trump

US President Joe Biden’s administration expected Baku to issue an international call to reduce carbon emissions. Such an international publication could have a major impact on global industry, encouraging investment in clean energy technologies and setting standards for other countries to follow. However, the resolution was quietly abandoned after Donald Trump’s victory. Trump recently again called climate change a joke designed to hurt the competitiveness of the US economy and benefit China.

In 2015, the Paris climate conference agreed to mark a 1.5 degree increase in global temperature since the beginning of the industrial age (historically around the end of the 18th century) as the upper limit, but scientists now admit that the world will be almost impossible to achieve this commitment. After Trump’s election victory, it is unclear whether the United States will ever come up with a new national goal to limit greenhouse gas pollution. Some conservative politicians have even urged Trump to withdraw from the 1992 UN agreement on annual climate talks.

The next UN climate conference is scheduled for next year in Brazil.