2024-01-05 14:22:10
Published5. January 2024, 3:22 p.m.
Azerbaijan: Oil veteran appointed to head COP29
A former executive of the oil company Socar will chair the UN climate conference next November.
Mukhtar Babayev, here at COP28, has been named president-designate of the 29th session of the UN climate conference.
cop28
Last year, the United Arab Emirates, hosts of COP28, chose Sultan Al Jaber, boss of the national company Adnoc, to chair the UN conference, which concluded in December in Dubai with a historic call for a “transition” away from fossil fuels, the first time that a COP has launched such a call.
The outgoing presidency of the COP also congratulated Mr. Babayev, who represented his country at the Dubai negotiations. “We will work with the presidencies of COP29 and COP30 (in Brazil, editor’s note), as well as with the UN Climate, to realize the historic and transformative success of COP28 and maintain the 1.5°C objective at your fingertips,” wrote the COP28 presidency in a message on X.
The Azerbaijani government also appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev as chief negotiator for COP29.
Long experience at Socar
The COPs are organized each year in a different zone, and the host countries are designated by consensus by the countries of the zone. In 2023, Asian countries designated the Emirates, and this year, after months of blockage, it was finally Azerbaijan which was designated by Eastern European countries, which include Russia.
Mr. Babayev worked from 1994 to 2003 in the Foreign Economic Relations Department of Socar (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic), the country’s national oil and gas company, before moving to the Marketing and Economic Operations Department. From 2007 to 2010, he was vice-president in charge of ecology at the oil and gas company.
He has been Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources since 2018. COP presidents, historically, have all been ministers or diplomats, until the exception of 2023. Sultan Al Jaber is president of Adnoc, the one of the largest gas and oil producers in the Gulf, while having represented his country multiple times at the COPs, and managing the Emirati renewable energy company, Masdar.
Double cap
His dual role had been criticized for the risk of conflicts of interest, and documents showed a mix of genders between the interests of Adnoc and those of COP28 in the preparation of meetings with foreign governments.
Today gas has become more important than oil for Azerbaijan, a member of OPEC+, mainly exported to Europe. “The country today remains very dependent on hydrocarbons which represent a little less than 50% of its GDP, a little more than 50% of its budgetary revenues and a little more than 90% of its export revenues,” adds Francis. Perrin.
(AFP)
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