Thursday, 21 November 2024
Home Topics Climate COP29 host Azerbaijan promoted fossil fuel deals ahead of climate summit, NGO says
ClimateClimate FinanceEconomyEmissionsNatural GasNewsOilUnited Nations

COP29 host Azerbaijan promoted fossil fuel deals ahead of climate summit, NGO says

29
FILE PHOTO: A car is parked at the venue of the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP29, during a media tour ahead of the summit beginning in Baku, Azerbaijan November 8, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo
A car is parked at the venue of the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP29, during a media tour ahead of the summit beginning in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 8, 2024. — REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo

LONDON — An official with Azerbaijan’s Presidency of next week’s United Nations COP29 climate summit appeared to offer to facilitate talks about new fossil fuel deals ahead of the conference, according to a video secretly recorded by an advocacy group.

In an investigation first reported by the BBC, non-profit group Global Witness, which advocates against corruption, said it had set up a fake company to express interest in investing in Azerbaijan’s national oil and gas company SOCAR, and in sponsoring the annual climate summit.

In the video, recorded by Global Witness, Elnur Soltanov, CEO of the COP29 talks in Baku aimed at tackling global warming, offers to introduce a representative of the sham oil and gas firm, called EC Capital, to SOCAR.

“We have a lot of pipeline infrastructure. We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed. We have a lot of green projects that SOCAR is very interested in,” Soltanov, who is Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister, said in the video. Reuters was unable to independently verify the video.

“There are a lot of joint ventures that could be established, potential joint ventures.

“SOCAR Trading is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia. To me, these are the possibilities to explore. But in any case this is something that you need to be talking to SOCAR, and I would be happy to create a contact between yourself and them,” Soltanov says.

SOCAR then reached out to the fake oil and gas investment group and expressed interest in a meeting, Global Witness said.

Soltanov did not respond to requests for comment.

SOCAR representatives could not immediately be contacted for comment late on Friday.

Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency — the summit’s host, which is led by Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev — declined to comment to Reuters.

Oil and gas make up roughly half of Azerbaijan’s economy, and 90 per cent of its exports.

Last year, leaked documents obtained by the Centre for Climate Reporting showed that COP28 host United Arab Emirates planned to discuss possible natural gas and other commercial deals ahead of the U.N. climate talks. At the time, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, the top representative for the UAE, denied the allegations.

“If this is the second year in a row where petro-states have been able to take on the presidency and have been able to use (their) position as president to further fossil fuel interests, then I think that does raise huge questions for the U.N. and the kind of rules and guidelines in place for how countries go about in carrying out this presidency,” said Simon Roach, a senior investigator with Global Witness.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

COP29, which begins on Monday, is supposed to help countries build off an agreement made in Dubai last year to transition away from fossil fuels.

(Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London; Additional reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Related Articles

People walk with the Baku Olympic Stadium in the background during the the UN climate summit (Peter Dejong/AP)
Climate FinancePoliticsUnited Nations

UN chief tells countries to ‘soften hard lines’ amid deadlock in climate talks

“Amidst geopolitical divisions and uncertainties, the world needs countries to come together...

FILE PHOTO: A drilling rig on a lease owned by Oasis Petroleum performs logging operations in the Permian Basin oil and natural gas producing area near Wink, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. Picture taken August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo
FuelNatural Gas

US natural gas drillers to lift 2025 output, reversing year of cuts

Rising demand for natural gas exports should boost average annual gas prices...

People walk at the entrance of the venue of the United Nations climate change conference COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Climate FinancePoliticsUnited Nations

New proposals published on COP29 climate finance target

The goal of COP29 is to agree how much money richer countries...

FILE PHOTO: The Isla Bella, the first container ship to be powered by liquid natural gas, is pictured before her launch during a nighttime ceremony at General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, California April 18, 2015. REUTERS/Earnie Grafton/File Photo
EmissionsFuelLiquefied Natural GasMaritimeTransport

Container shippers hedging green transition with dual-fuel vessel orders

Decarbonizing shipping is crucial to global efforts to fight climate change because...

Login into your Account

Please login to like, dislike or bookmark this article.