The capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. INTERVIEW | Baku prepares to host the world’s largest climate conference Climate and environment
The 29th UN Climate Conference (COP-29) will kick off in the capital of Azerbaijan on November 11. Preparations for the meeting, which is expected to bring together more than 32,000 participants from around the world, are in full swing in Baku. Lyudmila Blagonravova asked Vladanka Andreyeva, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Baku, about Azerbaijan’s efforts to organize the conference and combat climate change.
LB: There are only a couple of weeks left until COP29. Is Baku ready to host it??
BA: Absolutely. Azerbaijan is ready to host the world’s largest annual climate meeting in the beautiful city of Baku on the Caspian Sea. But I would like to clarify. Most countries usually have a year or more to prepare to host an event of this scale and importance. In Azerbaijan’s case, they literally had 10 months.
And it was amazing to see how Azerbaijan managed to assemble a team to chair COP29, a very professional, dedicated team that worked with partners from the UN, and did everything possible to prepare, both logistically and substantively, and to host literally the entire world.
Last week, from 17 to 24 October, preparations for COP29 took place in Baku. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed took part in it. And that was the moment when there was a really intense diplomatic discussion, especially around the financial component of the conference. One of the most important results of COP29 will be a new collective goal on climate finance (countries will agree on the volume of financing for the period after 2025 – editor’s note). And I think the parties have made significant progress in defining the form and format, as well as the draft text.
The week before that we had the very first Baku Climate Action Week, which was also fantastic: over 700 participants, over 30 events. The idea was to involve stakeholders who are not parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (such as youth and the private sector – ed.) to hear their point of view, what is important to them.
And we are collaborating with the Baku Climate Week. We took part in a symbolic 1.5 km walk, which was intended to support the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It has been great to be part of this big effort, as the UN Country Team in Azerbaijan is of course working hand in hand with the COP29 leadership to ensure that this event is a success.
LB: Can you tell us more about this? What the UN as a whole and your team in particular are doing to support Azerbaijan’s efforts?
VA: This is a larger effort across all UN development structures. We work in three directions. The UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – ed.), as the curator of the climate conference, supports the leadership of COP-29 in both logistical aspects and in terms of content and capacity building in matters of negotiations.
Then, at the global level, I am privileged to co-chair the UN Global Task Force for COP29, together with Mr. Selwyn Hart, who is the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition. More than 25 UN entities have joined this global task force to help the COP29 leadership develop its agenda and support the initiatives of its President.
Vladanka Andreeva, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Azerbaijan.
The UN Country Team, which I am proud to lead, and in Azerbaijan there are 18 UN agencies, has developed its own strategy for engagement with COP29. One of our main achievements is the climate debates that we have initiated, 29 so far. We are working with the private sector, with academia, with the media, with civil society, with young people, really trying to engage all stakeholders and raise awareness about the urgency of climate action in Azerbaijan, and also explain to people what they can do in their daily lives to support these efforts.
LB: By hosting such a large-scale climate event, Azerbaijan, of course, finds itself in the spotlight in terms of measures to combat climate change. What has Azerbaijan achieved so far on the path to a greener economy?
ВА: That’s a great question, and I think Azerbaijan is well aware that they need to lead by example now, especially as an oil and gas producing country. And they are taking steps in that direction. They have committed and are making efforts to ensure that more than 30 percent of their overall national energy mix is renewable energy as part of their national energy mix.
The second important path they are taking is the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So far they have developed two Nationally Determined Contributions. For the second, they have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent by 2030.
They are really leading by example at the moment. Within the troika – this is a concept developed by the COP29 leadership, which includes the host countries of COP28, COP29 and COP30, the Emirates, Azerbaijan and Brazil – they are working on their new Nationally Determined Contributions. And Azerbaijan is now developing a concept for their contribution, which is economy-wide and very ambitious. It is based on a whole-of-society approach, it will be essentially an investment plan designed to support the 2030 agenda. They are expected to present their new Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0 at COP29 in Baku.
And the last, third thing that they are working on is recognizing that they have to make efforts to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. The circular economy is an approach that they are taking, and the UN country team is also working on this. Next year, we plan to begin developing a new concept for development cooperation with the country.
These three important areas will underpin what we do over the next five years to support Azerbaijan in achieving its climate goals.
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