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Summary
Azerbaijan, hosting COP29, has outlined its priorities for the climate summit, focusing on climate finance, energy storage, and methane reduction. However, there is no mention of phasing out fossil fuels, raising concerns among environmentalists. Critics argue that this oversight undermines climate goals, particularly given Azerbaijan’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels.
Highlights -🌍
- COP29 Priorities: Azerbaijan emphasizes climate finance and energy storage.
- Fossil Fuels Ignored: No mention of phasing out fossil fuels in the agenda.
- Global Energy Storage: Aim to increase storage capacity sixfold by 2030.
- Civil Society Concerns: 122 groups criticize the lack of gender action in negotiations.
- Baku Initiatives: Launch of Climate Finance Action Fund for developing countries.
- Human Rights Criticism: Concerns raised about Azerbaijan’s human rights record.
- Global Fund Goal: UN report calls for $500 billion/year in climate funding.
Azerbaijan’s ecology minister and COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev said climate finance, energy storage and grids and methane reduction were “top priorities” at the upcoming summit.
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Azerbaijan has unveiled a list of priorities for the upcoming climate summit, which included global energy storage, electric grids, and climate finance but left out the production and consumption of planet-warming fossil fuels.
In a letter to Parties and Constituencies published Tuesday, the COP29 Presidency outlined a series of voluntary initiatives and outcomes on its Action Agenda, laying out in full the series of pledges and declarations that it will use to supplement the negotiated COP agenda and accelerate climate action.
Climate change affects everyone differently: We face extreme heat, water scarcity, and declining water levels in the Caspian Sea that have a direct impact on our lives and livelihoods,” the letter, signed by Azerbaijan’s ecology minister and COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev, read. “But we are also a source of solutions and opportunities, such as our abundant wind and solar potential, which can play an important role in the renewable energy landscape, supporting transition to low-emissions and climate resilient development not only at the national, but also at the regional and global level, and we are determined to lead by example.
Through two initiatives – the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF) and the Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment and Trade (BICFIT) – Azerbaijan is making climate finance its top priority. Announced in July, the CFAF will be capitalized with contributions from fossil fuel-producing countries and companies, with Azerbaijan as the founding contributor. Funds will be directed towards climate mitigation, adaptation, and R&D projects in developing countries as well as to support the next generation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to limit global warming to 1.5C as set out in the Paris Agreement.
