The decision to make Azerbaijan – a repressive country whose economy depends heavily on fossil fuels – the host of Cop29 has not proven popular.
Svitlana Romanko, an environmental lawyer and founder of Ukrainian campaign group Razom, which calls for a full embargo of Russian fossil fuels, said: “We are not surprised at all that oil dictatorships have created a bloody trade union trying to sustain their fossil fuel regimes… We are upset how the democratic leaders and UN institutions let them do so.”
“Azerbaijan is a small scale Russia,” she added, pointing to the former’s war against Armenia and gas trade with Russia’s Gazprom.
Christian Kroll, CEO of green search engine Ecosia, said: “Yet another authoritarian, undemocratic oil state running Cop. We’ve seen over the last few years total devaluation of this climate conference and with it the UN’s role as a meaningful arbiter when it comes to abating the worst consequences of the climate crisis.”
The announcement comes after months of tensions over which country in the UN’s Eastern Europe grouping would host the conference. Russia had blocked any EU countries’ bids and many of the other contenders lacked infrastructure and funds to host such a large event.
“It is good that the uncertainty over who will host Cop29 is over,” said Kaveh Guilanpour, vice president of the Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions. “It means that plans can now be made coming out of Cop28 for the key years of 2024 and 2025 – when new climate targets have to be tabled by all countries.”
Source: The Guardian
