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The host country for the upcoming UN COP29 climate summit skipped over the transition from fossil fuels in a list of priorities for the gathering in Azerbaijan, focusing instead on energy storage, waste methane and war.
The “action agenda” of global initiatives and pledges that Azerbaijan plans to put forward in Baku in November includes a sixfold increase in battery storage capacity, sweeping expansions to electricity networks and cuts in emissions from methane from organic waste. It also includes a call for action plans for tourism and water.
But it did not cover plans for the end of fossil fuel use in energy systems that was set down last year’s landmark pact in Dubai, where almost 200 countries struck an agreement then described as UN leadership as the “beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era”. The burning of fossil fuels is the single biggest contributor to climate change.
The president-designate for COP29, Mukhtar Babayev, is the minister of ecology in Azerbaijan and a former vice-president at state-owned oil and gas company Socar.
In his letter on Tuesday to the states and other organisations due to take part in the summit, Babayev cited a caution from 12th century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi that “humanity will destroy itself” unless “harmony and consent” reign between people and nature.
He also referenced the climate challenges faced by Azeris at home, such as extreme heat and water scarcity, where the Caspian Sea has been shrinking, as well as the country’s “abundant” wind and solar potential.
He proposed that countries adopt targets for cutting the production of methane as a byproduct of waste and food systems. Waste is only the third most common man-made source of methane, after the energy and agricultural sectors, according to the UN.
He steered clear of suggesting that Azerbaijan should reassess the dominant role in its own economy of oil and gas exports, which it has said allows it to help meet Europe’s energy demands.
The gathering in Baku in November is expected to be the second annual climate summit in a row to take place against a backdrop of war in Gaza and in Ukraine.
Babayev said the summit could be the opportunity for a “COP Truce”, from seven days before to seven days after the summit. This is modelled on efforts to urge the suspension of hostilities during the Olympic Games, and could raise awareness of the need to find collective solutions to protect vulnerable people, he added.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy also plans to link climate change to geopolitical risks in a speech on Tuesday morning. Warming temperatures and the higher risk of natural disaster are “more fundamental” than those posed by terrorists, he will say, according to prepared remarks.
COP29 will take place just days after the US election, which could result in former president Trump pushing for the world’s biggest economy and second largest polluter to again withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change and stall on climate action.
One of the thorniest issues diplomats and negotiators will address is how to marshal finance from richer nations so that poorer ones on the frontline of climate change can adapt to it.
Azerbaijan is due to announce its own contributions to a new Climate Finance Action Fund with a $1bn target, capitalised by fossil-fuel producing countries and companies, who will make voluntary payments linked to the volume of oil, gas and coal they produce.
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