“Authoritarian petrostate with no respect for human rights”

As the Arctic warms faster than ever, activists react to the UN's COP29 climate conference in Baku, while Azerbaijan's president calls oil 'a gift from God'.

As the COP29, the UN climate change conference, opens in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, the event has already sparked controversy. The website for the event, which runs from 11 to 22 November, says “Azerbaijan is committed to developing its renewable energy potential, which is an important part of the country’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2050. The country intends to increase renewable power capacity to 30% by 2030 and diversify its existing energy system to become a leader in green energy.”While Azerbaijan claims to focus on renewable energy, its President Ilham Aliyev declared that oil, gas and other natural resources were “a gift from God”:”Countries should not be blamed for having them,” – Aliyev said during the COP29 on Tuesday, November 12, – “and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because the market needs them,”- the president is quoted as saying by the AFP News Agency. Meanwhile, researchers from around the world stress that human activities such as burning coal, oil and gas are among the main causes of global warming.Researchers are ringing alarm bells about the Arctic in particular, as it is the fastest-warming place on Earth. Melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is causing sea levels to rise and disrupting local flora and fauna: Rising sea levels, more violent storms, rainfall and people being forced to move away from the area that has become too warm,” physical oceanographer Arild Sundfjord told the Barents Observer about the consequences of global warming.

Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, at the panel session on the second day of the COP29, made it clear that the climate crisis affects every country in the world: “Because the climate crisis is fast becoming an economy-killer. Unless all countries can slash emissions deeply, every country and every household will be hammered even harder than they currently are. We will be living in a permanent inflationary nightmare”.On Monday 11 November, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg wrote an opinion piece in the British newspaper The Guardian in which she accused the Azerbaijani authorities of greenwashing and authoritarianism: “During rapidly escalating climate and humanitarian crises, another authoritarian petrostate with no respect for human rights is hosting COP29…Azerbaijan’s entire economy is built on fossil fuels, with the state-owned oil company Socar’s oil and gas exports accounting for close to 90% of the country’s exports,” Greta writes, -“Despite what it might claim, Azerbaijan has no ambition to take climate action. It is planning to expand fossil fuel production, which is completely incompatible with the 1.5C limit and the goals of the Agreement on climate change.”Thunberg is currently in Georgia, where she also took to the streets of Tbilisi to voice her criticism of COP29. The Russian delegation to the conference will be led by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Russian state news agency Interfax reported.

The Moscow Times highlights that one of the Russian delegation's goals in Baku is to promote its “contribution to global food security” at a panel session on 20 November. “Russia has painted itself as a supplier of food to the Global South amid a global food crisis exacerbated by its own invasion of Ukraine”, the Moscow Times emphasizes.The Conference of the Parties (COP), is held annually, with the Presidency rotating between the five recognized UN regions. This year, Azerbaijan has been selected as the Presidency of the COP29. The previous one, COP28, was held in the United Arab Emirates.