At the start of COP29, Azerbaijan’s authoritarian leader Ilham Aliyev defended the country’s current gas exports and plans to increase production by a third over the next decade.
“This is a gift from God,” he told an audience in Baku.
“All natural resources are natural resources: oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver and copper,” he said.
“And countries should not be blamed for holding these resources, nor should they be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because both the market and the people need it.”
The use of oil and gas is a major cause of global warming because when burned, it releases global warming gases such as carbon dioxide.
President Aliyev also criticized France for committing colonial “crimes” and “human rights violations” in its overseas territories.
Such strongly expressed views are extremely rare from the leaders of COP organizers, whose goal is to build consensus on how to combat rising temperatures.
The authors of the letter are also interested in the process of selecting COP hosts. Azerbaijan followed the lead of the United Arab Emirates, another major oil producer, which held a conference in Dubai last year.
“At the last COP, fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered representatives of scientific institutions, indigenous communities and vulnerable states,” said former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.
“A just transition cannot be achieved without major reforms to the COP process that ensure fair representation of those most affected.”
The authors say host countries “must demonstrate a high level of ambition to maintain the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
They also want smaller, more frequent COPs with clear accountability for what countries have promised.
