COP29 climate hosts say they will continue to expand fossil fuels June 8, 2024

Babayev, a former oil executive turned ecology minister, said Azerbaijan would continue to increase production to meet demand.

By AFP - Agence France Presse

COP29 climate hosts say they will continue to expand fossil fuels

The new president of the COP29 UN climate summit in Azerbaijan told AFP on Friday that his country will continue to increase fossil fuel production “in parallel” with investments in cleaner alternatives.

Mukhtar Babayev defended his country's hosting of the world's most important climate summit despite rising natural gas exports, even as UN chief Antonio Guterres renewed calls this week for countries to “phase out” fossil fuels.

In an exclusive interview with AFP in Bonn, COP29 organizers said they would also call for a “COP truce” and ask nations to observe a ceasefire during the marathon negotiations in Baku in November.

This comes at a time when diplomats are meeting in the German city this week and next to take stock of global climate action, including a pledge made at last year's COP in the United Arab Emirates to transition away from fossil fuels.

Environmental activists have expressed dismay that the climate talks are being held for the second year running in a nation committed to further developing the fuels most responsible for global warming.

Azerbaijan's president recently described his country's gas reserves as a “gift from the gods” and vowed to defend other fossil fuel economies that want to extract more oil and gas.

Babayev, a former oil executive turned ecology minister, said that Azerbaijan is a gas-exporting country and will continue to increase production to meet demand.

This includes the European Union, he said, which signed large gas contracts with the former Soviet nation after the outbreak of war in Ukraine caused an energy crisis.

“We are planning in several years (to increase) the volumes of natural gas and at the same time our renewable energy projects,” Babayev told AFP.

“I think that, in parallel, natural gas production and renewable energy will possibly go hand in hand at the same time,” he added, saying that his country was already investing in major clean energy projects.

The United Arab Emirates, which has been accused of using its COP presidency to promote fossil fuel agreements - allegations it denies - has also advocated increasing oil and gas production capacity in response to demand.

Babayev hopes that his COP presidency will lead to a new agreement on money from rich nations to help developing countries invest in clean energy and adapt to the impacts of global warming.

This has been a sticking point in climate negotiations for decades, but negotiators hope to set a new fundraising target when world leaders and ministers meet in Baku.

Developing countries want the target to exceed the previous goal of $100 billion a year.

It is estimated that emerging markets and developing countries, excluding China, will need more than $2 trillion a year by 2030 to meet their climate and development needs.

The developed nations historically responsible for climate change agree that more money is needed, but they want rich economies and major polluters like China to contribute too.

Raising this money is a “global effort”, said COP29 chief negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev. “We can't single out any one party, any one country.”

"The current flow of funding is not enough. And regardless of who will be the contributor, the funding available to developing countries must be increased,” Rafiyev told AFP.

Behind closed doors in Bonn, the COP29 team considered raising money from “innovative sources”, including fossil fuel producers who could be asked to finance climate action in vulnerable nations.

“It's a very preliminary idea, and we've already had a chance to discuss it with different countries and international financial institutes and UN institutions,” Babayev said, without offering further details.

Rafiyev said that the format of such a fundraising instrument - a tax, levy, or another mechanism - had not been decided, but that they did not want to “point the finger at any one sector”.

“We are listening to everyone and, based on that, we will present a final product,” he said.

Some nations have proposed introducing taxes on the fossil fuel sector and other highly polluting sectors such as aviation and maritime transport, while Brazil is building support for a global tax on billionaires.

Azerbaijan had less than a year to prepare for the COP29 summit, being appointed in December at the last minute after Russia blocked other potential hosts.

The summit was held just days after Azerbaijan and its archrival Armenia announced they would work towards a peace agreement, and amid violent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Rafiyev said that in Baku they would call for a “COP truce” and an appeal “to the international community to observe a ceasefire” during the two-week summit.

He dismissed concerns about adding another layer of complexity to the climate talks, notorious for the difficulty of reaching a consensus among almost 200 nations.

“Wars and armed conflicts, military activities, are one of the biggest emissions-generating activities and are explicitly related to the climate agenda,” Rafiyev said.

"It's not just a geopolitical or political issue. It also has a very substantive climate dimension."

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