Donald will not be at the United Nations conference on climate change in Azerbaijan, a country that lives on gas and oil. But the tycoon’s denialism about global warming and his love for drills are a bad signal for the planet. There is a lack of funds to finance the green transition and the fossil fuel lobby is still too strong.
A Bakucapital ofAzerbaijan where the 29th conference of the is scheduled from 11 to 22 November 2024 United Nations sui climate changesthe air is heavy. It’s not just the recent victory of Donald Trump all US presidential electionswhich brings the denialism climate: the country on the Caspian Sea is dotted with refinery and from the wells of petrolium. It has been built on this business since the mid-19th century and fossil fuels they are 90 percent of his exports. Ironically: the national symbol is a gas flame.
Everything is ready for Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan (Getty).
Drills, fires, wind power: Trump’s disturbing outbursts
Trump obviously won’t be there. If we wanted to draw up a summary of the wind blowing from the new American government we could take up Donald’s motto, «drill, baby, drill“, Meaning what “augerbaby, drill”, accompanied by the sardonic smile with which in 2019 he went so far as to say that the turbines wind power cause the cancer. Trump won’t be there because he thinks that «the concept of global warming was created by China and for China, in order to make US manufacturing uncompetitive” (tweet from 2012) and because during a visit to California in September 2020, in response to an official talking about the fire and climate change, he said: “It will start to get cooler. Wait and see.”
Climate activists with portraits of Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump (Getty).
Pressuring lobbying activity and disinformation campaigns
In truth it is none other than its predecessor Joe Biden shone on the topic. Many will point out that no country has ever produced as much oil and gas as the United States does now, with 20 percent more licenses issued during the Biden administration compared to Trump’s first term. In Baku the air will be heavy because the almost annual fortnightly meeting that began in 1992 seems to have achieved very little compared to expectations. There Cop29 it comes after 2023 which was the hottest year on record and at the end of 2024 which will certainly set a new record. It is true that 15 years ago the world was heading for 6° of global warming above pre-industrial levels and now we are hovering around 3°, but the 1.5° goal would require reaching zero net emissions over the next two decades. Too ambitious for the fossil fuel lords who have raised the front with pressing activity lobbying and with a viral campaign misinformation.
Cars on the streets of Baku (Getty).
The problem of climate finance, i.e. the lack of money
But the central issue in Baku is not just the parade of leaders who take turns at the podium to recite solemn commitments. It’s not just Trump’s return either. The biggest problem, the one that hangs heavy in the conference rooms and creeps among the delegations, is the money. From climate finance we have been talking about it for decades, but too often without leaving the limits of rhetoric. There Cop29 it has the acrid smell of oil and the sound of coins jingling in hesitant hands, while the funds that were supposed to reach developing countries remain paper promises.
Group photo of pre-Cop29 delegates (Getty).
The Azerbaijani ecology minister did (does?) business with oil
The numbers speak for themselves: the road to limiting global warming to within 1.5° requires massive and immediate investments. Yet financial commitments often vanish like smoke in the conference corridors. The presidency of Cop29 entrusted to Mukhtar BabayevAzerbaijan’s minister of ecology and former vice-president of the state oil company Socardoes not help to dispel doubts. Azerbaijan is a country where the economy, politics and life itself are inextricably linked to oil. Talk about one green transition in such a context it is not just a challenge: it is a provocation. And the biggest provocation is the economic one: who will finance the transition? Who will ensure that the efforts are not in vain and that the most vulnerable countries are not left behind? Who will tell Azerbaijan that its current economic and social paradigm should no longer exist?
COP29 President and Azerbaijani Ecology Minister Mukhtar Babayev (Getty).
Green Climate Fund far from operational
Il Green Climate Fundestablished to support developing states, is far from fully operational. Promises of contributions have often been shattered by political inertia and a lack of concrete will. THE’Europadriven by its interests and crises, tries to maintain a credible position, but its funds are also limited and subject to internal tensions. THE’Africal’Asia Southern Italy and the Pacific Islands, already under the grip of natural disasters, are asking for concrete answers. The climate of Baku, hot and saturated with expectations, is also the thermometer of a global challenge: money moves, but too often in the wrong direction. The fossil fuel lobby, with a presence that permeates both governments and economies, has refined its techniques of influence. Investments in energy renewable they are advancing, but not quickly enough to close the gap.
Cop29 and increasingly empty long-term plans
The choice for the Cop29 It’s simple: continue with promises and long-term plans, which ring increasingly hollow, or face reality with decisions that resonate beyond the conference halls. Will the richest countries be willing to finally put the necessary resources on the table for a just transition? Or will discussions once again be limited to declarations of principle, as temperatures rise and time passes? Money is needed. The real ones, the necessary ones, the ones that make the difference between heartfelt speeches and real actions. And if no one does, the only real winner will once again be the deafening silence of money standing still. And the temperature rising.
