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From The Guardian - Climate Change
Azerbaijan has been announced as the host of next year’s climate summit after fraught negotiations.
Under UN rules it was eastern Europe’s turn to take over the rotating presidency but the groups need to unanimously decide on the host. Russia had blocked EU countries and Azerbaijan and Armenia were blocking each other’s bids.
Onlookers were beginning to worry about whether a country could be agreed that would be able to stump up the money and facilities needed to host such a large conference. But Armenia retracted its bid and agreed to back Azerbaijan.
Climate activists are likely to react with concern to the news, given the perception already that Cops have been partly captured by fossil fuel interests. Much like this year’s host, the country of 10 million people on the border of eastern Europe and western Asia relies economically on fossil fuels: oil and gas production accounted for nearly half of Azerbaijan’s GDP and more than 92.5% of its export revenue last year, according to the US government’s International Trade Administration.
Civil society organisations have also said Azerbaijan has a poor record on human rights. On the Freedom Index, a ranking by a US-based NGO, the country is ranked as “not free”, with a score of 9/100 on political rights and civil liberties.
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Read the full post at The Guardian - Climate Change.
