Former US vice-president and climate activist Al Gore says it is “absurd” that the presidency of UN climate talks is repeatedly handed over to oil-rich states, in an exclusive interview with at Euronews.
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“I think the process should be reformed”Al Gore said about the COP summit process during an exclusive interview with Euronews in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
“I think it is absurd to have, for example, what we had last year with the CEO of one of the most polluting oil companies on the planet as president of the COP”he said in reference to the 2023 climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“This is a direct conflict of interest”he continued, affirming that the problem persists this year with the arrival of Azerbaijan to the presidency of the COP.
“Even though the president of this COP is not the head of the oil industry, he is very much in tune with this country's dependence on fossil fuels”said Al Gore. “90% of this country’s balance of payments comes from the sale of oil and gas”.
Mukhtar Babayev, appointed Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources in 2018 after a two-decade career with the national oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Socar), was appointed in January to chair the COP of this year.
Al Gore said Russia, which vetoed the idea of an EU country hosting the talks, was the driving force behind the selection of Azerbaijan, which is part of the Eastern Europe broadly defined and which was in the running for the presidency this year.
“As the strongest voice in this region of the world, it was really Russia that made this choice”said Al Gore, whose climate activism since narrowly losing the 2000 US presidential election led him to share the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations in 2007.
Al Gore spoke to Euronews shortly before hosting an event with the Climate Reality Project, which he founded in 2006 and still chairs.
“One of the reforms I have proposed is to give the UN Secretary General a say in the organization of conferences of the parties, instead of letting voices like that of Vladimir Putin decide on the organization of it, and to let the petro-states of the Middle East decide”said Al Gore.
The former US vice president, who served alongside President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001, also warned against relying on technological solutions to solve the climate crisis as average global temperatures approach regularly by the limit of 1.5°C above what they were before the start of the 20th century.
Al Gore has focused on carbon capture and storage (CCS), which typically involves pumping CO2 underground or beneath the seabed into depleted gas fields, a technology promoted both in the United States and in Europe within the framework of the law “Net Zero Industry Act” of the European Union.
“They have been proven to be completely ridiculous and totally ineffective,” Al Gore said. “Of course, the fossil fuel companies want to make it seem like this is the solution – anything other than reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned or shrinking their markets”.
Regarding the COP29 summit, subject to diplomatic disputes and criticism over the strong presence of oil and gas lobbyists, Al Gore was clear on the results to be obtained in the area of financing the fight against climate change , which is at the heart of this year's negotiations.
“If we look at the financing of the clean energy revolution as it has happened so far, 85% of the funds come from the private sector”he declared.
“The real problem is that developing countries that have not been able to participate meaningfully have to pay interest rates so high that they are deprived of access to private capital from investors in the whole world”.
The Baku summit is due to continue until November 22, when the approximately 200 participating countries are expected to agree on a “new quantified collective objective” for financing the energy transition and adaptation to climate change in developing countries.
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