Oil and gasoline ‘present of god’, says host Azerbaijan president

The president of COP29’s host nation informed the UN local weather convention on Tuesday that oil and gasoline had been a “present of god”.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev criticised “Western pretend information” in regards to the nation’s emissions and mentioned nations “shouldn’t be blamed” for having fossil gasoline reserves.

The nation plans to broaden gasoline manufacturing by as much as a 3rd over the subsequent decade.

Shortly afterwards, UN chief António Guterres informed the convention that doubling down on using fossil fuels was “absurd”.

He mentioned the “clear vitality revolution” had arrived and that no authorities might cease it.

Some observers had expressed issues about the world’s largest local weather convention happening in Azerbaijan.

Its minister for ecology and pure assets – a former oil government that spent 26 years at Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gasoline firm Socar – is the convention’s chairman.

There are additionally issues that Azerbaijani officers are utilizing COP29 to spice up funding within the nation’s nationwide oil and gasoline firm.

However addressing the convention on its second day, President Aliyev mentioned Azerbaijan had been topic to “slander and blackmail” forward of COP29.

He mentioned it had been as if “Western pretend information media”, charities and politicians had been “competing in spreading disinformation…about our nation”.

Aliyev mentioned the nation’s share in world gasoline emissions was “solely 0.1%”.

“Oil, gasoline, wind, solar, gold, silver, copper, all…are pure assets and nations shouldn’t be blamed for having them, and shouldn’t be blamed for bringing these assets to the market, as a result of the market wants them.”

Oil and gasoline are a significant reason for local weather change as a result of they launch planet-warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide when burned for vitality.

The US can also be underneath the highlight on the convention, following the election victory of Donald Trump – a recognized local weather sceptic.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden’s envoy John Podesta known as out president-elect Trump’s view that local weather change was a hoax and mentioned the US crew would proceed to work on the deal handed at COP28 in 2023.

He added that Washington was additionally engaged on a deal handed final yr in Dubai to triple renewable energy by 2030.

Addressing the convention in Baku on Tuesday, UN Secretary Common Guterres decried “doubling down on fossil fuels”.

“The sound you hear is the ticking clock,” he mentioned.

“We’re within the last countdown to restrict world temperature rise to 1.5 levels Celsius and time just isn’t on our facet.”

He known as 2024 a “masterclass in local weather destruction” with disasters being “supercharged by human-made local weather change”.

The UN’s World Meteorological Group beforehand mentioned that 2024 is on observe to be the world’s warmest yr on report.

Guterres mentioned “a brand new finance purpose” was wanted, with wealthiest nations paying probably the most.

“They’re the biggest emitters, with the best capacities and tasks,” he mentioned. “Creating nations should not depart Baku empty-handed.”

The Azerbaijani president’s feedback are unlikely to derail talks behind the scenes, that are largely about getting additional cash for poorer nations to assist implement their local weather plans.

Creating nations are calling for richer nations to agree collectively on a fund that would add as much as $1 trillion, utilizing private and non-private cash.

Leaders of a lot of the world’s greatest polluters weren’t current in Baku, together with Biden, France’s chief Emmanuel Macron and India’s Narendra Modi.

The atmosphere minister for Burkino Faso, a central African nation among the many poorest on the planet, informed the BBC that additional cash was important.

Roger Baro mentioned it will assist his nation take care of the present impacts of local weather change within the nation, which is experiencing widespread drought, flash floods and illness outbreaks.

The disasters occurred within the Sahel area, which noticed temperatures of 45C this yr in a heatwave that scientists mentioned would have been inconceivable to achieve with out local weather change.

Amongst different world leaders to take to the stage on Tuesday was Spain’s prime minister, who known as for “drastic measures” after floods killed greater than 200 folks within the nation.

Specialists say that local weather change contributed to the heavy rainfall that induced the floods.

“We have to bear decarbonisation, adapt our cities and infrastructure,” mentioned Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

COP29 is scheduled to final till 22 November, however there are already fears that the difficult points on the desk might make a last settlement very troublesome.