A “deal” that is very contrary to the principles of the climate conference. The director general of COP29 was trapped by a climate defense NGO and filmed promoting agreements on fossil fuels, a gesture contrary to COP commitments, the BBC reported this Friday.
The trap was set by the NGO Global Witness, engaged in the fight against fossil fuels and corruption in the sector. An investigator from the association posed, shortly before the climate conference, as an investor in the oil and gas of the fictitious company EC Capital, and invited Elnur Soltanov, the general director of the COP29, at a videoconference meeting.
It was during this meeting that Soltanov, also Minister of Energy in Azerbaijan, proposed to the company “investment opportunities” in fossil fuels. “We have a lot of gas fields that need to be developed,” he said. In the same meeting, he also mentions the existence of “very large oil deposits”, of “pipeline infrastructure” in Azerbaijan and of the commercial branch of the country's oil company which “trades oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia.
After this meeting, the fake company EC Capital even obtained, through Elnur Soltanov, a meeting with a senior manager of the Azerbaijani national oil company, “with the explicit intention of discussing an oil agreement during of COP29,” explains the NGO Global Witness. A gesture which illustrates, according to the association, the behavior of an “army of oil and gas lobbyists who, in recent years, have invaded these climate negotiations”.
Contacted by the BBC, a former UN COP official deemed Soltanov’s actions “totally unacceptable”. He even considers that they constitute a “betrayal” of the COP process. The entourage of the minister and director general of COP29 did not respond to questions from the British media.
COP29, which will begin Monday in Baku, must be the framework for climate negotiations focused on unlocking the trillions of dollars needed by developing countries. The objective? Enable these countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.
As a reminder, fossil fuels such as gas and oil are considered responsible for warming the atmosphere and oceans, leading to climate change across most of the planet. “Climate calamities are our new reality. And we are not up to it. We must adapt now,” lamented UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres this Thursday.
