Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev kicked off the climate conference with a wide-ranging speech in which he hit out at critics of his country’s fossil fuel industries.
The president of Azerbaijan, who is hosting climate summit COP29, has hailed oil and gas as “a gift from God” as he lambasted Western media and climate activists.
President Ilham Aliyev kicked off the conference with a wide-ranging, critical speech in which he hit out at those opposed to his country’s oil and gas industries.
In his keynote address at COP29, where nearly 200 nations are negotiating global action on climate change, president Aliyev described his country as a victim of a “well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail”.
Within moments, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres took to the stage to say that doubling down on fossil fuels was an absurd strategy.
But president Aliyev said: “As a president of COP29 of course, we will be a strong advocate for green transition, and we are doing it. But at the same time, we must be realistic.”
Referencing gas and oil resources, he added: “Countries should not be blamed for having them, and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because the market needs them. The people need them.”
The Azerbaijan government relies on fossil fuels for 60% of its budget and 90% of exports.
President Aliyev said it was “not fair” to call Azerbaijan a “petrostate” because it produces less than 1% of the world’s oil and gas.
He singled out the US, the world’s largest historic carbon emitter, and the European Union for particular criticism – accusing them of double standards.
President Aliyev’s speech underscored the challenge at the heart of the climate negotiations: while all nations are urged to shift to green energy sources, many, including wealthy Western nations, continue to rely on fossil fuels.