Azerbaijan Appoints Veteran of State Oil Company as President of COP29

Azerbaijan has chosen Mukhtar Babayev, a former employee of the state-owned oil and gas company Socar, as the president of Cop29. Babayev, who served at Socar for 26 years, has been recognized for his efforts to mitigate the environmental impact caused by the company. While Babayev will lead the discussions, Yalchin Rafiyev, Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, will act as the primary negotiator for Cop29. 

It is worth noting that Babayev transitioned to the role of environment minister in 2018 after his tenure at Socar. However, some individuals who recently interacted with Babayev expressed concerns about his ability to advocate for global phasing out of fossil fuels. Rafiyev, on the other hand, is relatively new to climate diplomacy and has limited experience attending climate talks. As the 24th man to chair the Cop climate talks, Babayev continues the trend of male dominance in this role, with only five women having served as chairpersons.

Unexpected decision

Given that Azerbaijan "doesn't have a long track record of diplomacy at the [UN climate arm]," E3G negotiations analyst Tom Evans called the decision "unusual and unexpected." Two-thirds of Azerbaijan's income comes from oil and gas, which is higher than the United Arab Emirates, the host nation for the Cop28, and among the highest percentages worldwide.

Since his father's passing twenty years ago, Ilham Aliyev has been the nation's president. In 2022, the government had at least thirty political dissidents incarcerated, according to Human Rights Watch. The advocacy group said that chronic prisoner mistreatment and restrictions on the media were among the regulations that prevented nongovernmental organizations from functioning freely.

Source: climatechangenews.com