World Climate Conference: Oil dynasty as climate saver? Azerbaijan and the UN summit

Azerbaijan earns its money from oil and gas – and at the same time is hosting the World Climate Conference that begins on Monday. How does that fit together? The head of state Ilham Aliyev, who rules with an iron hand, hopes to improve his image. But climate activists have doubts as to whether the small ex-Soviet republic, with its focus on fossil energy, can credibly lead the mammoth summit. In any case, the choice of Baku as the venue for the Formula 1 circus makes more sense than for a UN conference to save the climate, say environmentalists from Greenpeace.

The fact that Azerbaijani Environment Minister Mukhtar Babayev was scheduled to be president of the conference, known in UN jargon as COP29, months ago caused irritation – but he previously worked for the state oil company Socar for a long time. And: According to estimates by the organization Global Witness, Azerbaijan wants to significantly expand its climate-damaging gas and oil production.

A few days ago the next excitement: According to a BBC report, the head of the Azerbaijani COP29 team appears to have used his role to arrange meetings on possible agreements on gas and oil deals. According to the broadcaster, a secretly recorded video shows Elnur Soltanov talking to a man posing as a potential investor about investment opportunities in the Socar group. The COP 29 team initially did not respond to a BBC query about this.

Greenpeace said in a statement for the German Press Agency that it was not easy to imagine honesty and real ambitions in a state that owes its wealth to fossil fuels. “The suspicion is that Azerbaijan primarily wants to adorn itself with an international high-level conference and polish its own image within the global community.”

Song Contest and Formula 1 in the dazzling capital

There are already regular Formula 1 races in the dazzling capital Baku, and it was also the host of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) and the venue for the European Football Championship. While dissidents are imprisoned as political prisoners in the country on the Caspian Sea, the 62-year-old ruler and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva are now relying on the images as hosts for dozens of heads of state and government from all over the world.

Aliyev, who has the closest connections to Russia and its sister state Turkey, has been leading the country in the South Caucasus with around ten million inhabitants with a hard hand for more than 20 years – as the successor to his father Heydar Aliyev, who headed the Central Committee of the Communist Party during Soviet times Azerbaijan led. Elections are considered neither fair nor free in the state, which is run like a dynasty. In an election in February, Ilham Aliyev was declared the winner with 92 percent of the vote.

No protests possible in the city again

Human rights activists have been criticizing the situation in the former Soviet republic for decades. Most recently, the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) spoke of a tightening of measures against dissidents. In the past two years, the government has cracked down more harshly on critics and arrested dozens, it said. HRW also complained that as a result there are hardly any independent organizations and media left in Azerbaijan. According to the report, human rights activist Anar Mammadli is among those detained. Before his arrest, he co-founded a climate justice initiative.

Darya Sotoodeh from the climate movement Fridays for Future sees all of this as highly problematic. The climate conference in Baku is the third in a row in an authoritarian state, after those in Egypt and Dubai. “In Baku, civil society protests are once again not possible in the city. Protests can only take place on the conference grounds, which you can only enter with accreditation from the United Nations,” she told the German Press Agency. And the hosts’ agenda is also unclear to her: “We question to what extent this presidency really has the goal of continuing the phase-out of all fossil fuels without alternative at this climate conference.”

The European Parliament also denounced human rights violations: Because of the repression of journalists, activists and opposition members, the EU must end its gas dependence on Azerbaijan, the MPs demanded in a legally non-binding resolution.

Among the most corrupt states in the world

Azerbaijan, which has repeatedly been criticized in Germany for favors given to officials, remains one of the most corrupt states in the world. The organization Transparency International lists the country 154th out of 180 in its corruption perception index.

But: Aliyev is more firmly in the saddle than ever since he was celebrated last year for recapturing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region after the war against the small neighboring country of Armenia, which he won with Turkish help. The triumph was also intended to mask dissatisfaction in society over problems such as high social inequality. Karabakh has been fought over for decades, but the two feuding neighbors are now negotiating a peace treaty with separate mediation from the EU and Russia.

The attacks by the Azerbaijani army caused more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians to flee. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of expulsion and “ethnic cleansing.” According to an agency under the Ministry of Energy, a “green energy zone” is now to be created exactly there. The aim is to supply the area with environmentally friendly energy.