By Gert Van Hecken, Vijay Kolinjivadi, Marcela Vecchione Gonçalves, Richard Toppo and Anwesha Dutta
As delegates gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 29th Conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), we are once again reminded of how compromised these summits have become. Baku, a capital built on oil wealth, is yet another highly securitized backdrop for a conference hijacked by fossil fuel interests. From the UAE’s Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company, presiding over COP28 in 2023 to Azerbaijan’s fossil-fuel-driven regime hosting this year, the COPs have become increasingly directed by the very industries they claim to hold accountable. In a glaring example of this contradiction, COP29’s chief executive Elnur Soltanov – Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister and a board member of the state oil company Socar – was filmed discussing oil and gas investment opportunities with a fictitious energy investor. This stunt, orchestrated by Global Witness, underscores how blatantly these summits serve fossil fuel agendas, even as a new report reveals that there are no signs of promised fossil fuel transitions and emissions are set to reach a record high in 2024.
Continue reading “Beyond COP29: Toward Reparative Justice, Not Corporate Climate Deals”