Ahead of the UN’s annual climate conference, COP29, key stakeholders from policy, private sector, finance, trade and investment, civil society, cities, regions, science and academia gathered for the Baku Climate Action Week in Azerbaijan’s capital on September 30 to October 4 in an effort to further strengthen international collaboration and synergy when it comes to advancing climate solutions.
A pre-cursor to COP29, which is scheduled to take place in Baku from November 11-22, the Baku Climate Action Week (BCAW2024) is held in partnership with London Climate Action Week. “There is a growing network of climate weeks around the world now with London and New York and Baku is a great addition to that combination. This is a key milestone on the road to COP29 bringing together many of the players who will be present and involved in the conference in November,” Stuart Brocklehurst, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Business Engagement & Innovation, Director of Green Futures Solutions, University of Exeter told NE Global in Baku as BCAW2024 kicked off on September 30.
Baku Climate Action Week builds on the approach of London (LCAW) and other cities to bring together people and organisations from across society to highlight whole-of-society climate action. But it should not be mistaken for a preparatory diplomatic encounter where preliminary negotiations for COP29 are actually underway; that is not the case. Azerbaijan is set to host a PreCOP event on October 10-11. That event will gather environmental ministers from countries participating in COP29 to discuss the conference’s agenda and upcoming issues.
Brocklehurst noted that every COP is a process of managing expectations of brinkmanship in negotiations. “I don’t think we’ve had a COP which ended on time, certainly not for many years because invariably these things come down to the wire. So, we’re hopeful for progress but exactly what comes out we will have to wait for the negotiations to see,” he said.
Nigar Arpadarai, United Nations Climate Change High Level Champion for COP29 and a member of Azerbaijan’s Parliament, told NE Global on October 1 the mission of the Champion is to be a bridge between the work of the parties, of the governments and non-party stakeholders, non-state actors. “We want to see non-state actors from all over the world joining this process because we speak about global climate action and global climate action requires all of society approaching. It’s not only up to the government. It’s up to the cities, it’s up to academia, it’s up to the private sector, civil society so everyone needs to be involved into this action,” she said.
Despite being a major hydrocarbons producer, Azerbaijan’s government has prioritized an agenda moving the country towards a greener, more sustainable, and resilient economy while meeting international commitments.
“Azerbaijan has started and shared its commitment even long before COP. So, we’re not doing that because of COP but since we have COP and the fact that Azerbaijan is hosting COP29 is a clear demonstration for our dedication and of our commitment to energy transition,” Arpadarai argued. “As a COP-host country it’s a great chance and a platform for our region and also globally to come together and to discuss all the aspects of green transition. In the program of Baku Climate Action Week, we have energy, we have agriculture, water, we have green skills, we have education. Basically, we’re trying to bring together our government officials, international audiences like experts from abroad, private sector, academia to discuss and to see what outcomes can be happening,” the Climate Champion said.
Tackling the effects of climate change in Central Asia
Arpadarai said Azerbaijan is the first country to host UN’s annual climate conference in the region. “It’s not only about Azerbaijan, it’s about our region in general and I think we, as a country, are doing many projects with Central Asia, including green transition renewables projects and we also have very good contacts with private sector from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and we’re looking forward to seeing all of them at COP,” she said. “As the COP-host country we’re giving a platform, being the honest broker between all the sides, all the parties so that’s our role to give the platform and within our work with parties our presidency is committed to principles of transparency, neutrality and this is exactly how we shape our relations with all the countries, with all the parties,” Arpadarai said.
Brocklehurst reminded that the UK and Azerbaijan share very strong historic ties. “I know that FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) has worked very closely with the Azerbaijani government in the run-up to COP29. Obviously, it was not that long ago that the UK was hosting COP26 so there’s a close cooperation on diplomacy but also on trade, historically has been focused on petrochemicals through BP but there is now the opportunity to transition that to renewables and other parts of the future economy,” he said.
UK to focus on COP29
“I don’t speak for his Majesty’s government but it is notable that the British delegation will be led by a Cabinet Minister — by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, which is a more senior delegation than was present in Dubai last year so there is clearly a great focus,” Brocklehurst said, adding, “We’ve actually just launched some research from Exeter University which shows that the most effective ways to drive positive tipping points on climate change is to issue mandates for the move to electric vehicles, the pausing of coal power, etcetera. Now, of course, those are things the UK has already adopted; I would imagine the UK government would be keen to drive faster adoption of these mandates and other directives as well.”
