The UN climate talks entered the final phase with the start of political negotiations this week, and, as the host, Azerbaijan is expected to play a key role in building consensus and delivering an agreement. But as the conference peaks, suspicion that the petrostate is inimical to cut fossil fuel consumption refuses to die down.
Azerbaijan’s Mukhtar Babayev, who is COP29’s president, was asked at a press conference on Monday how many oil and gas deals Azerbaijan has done while leading the climate talks. He evaded that question but said, “The world is moving in the direction to increase the green energy, green transition programs. That’s why I think that all of the world’s petrostates, I mean, the oil and gas countries, fossil fuel producing countries, it’s a good chance for these countries to demonstrate their leadership in this issue and to increase the investment in the green energy, green transition projects.”
Babayev said that the “main oil and gas producing countries already adopted decarbonisation programmes. And not only fossil fuel producing countries but also companies, have adopted their decarbonisation programmes.”
‘God’s gift’
Azerbaijani’s president Ilham Aliyey, in power since 2003, is far from apologetic. During the first week of COP29, he declared oil and gas “is a gift from God,” targeting critics particularly in the West of hypocrisy. In a barely concealed reference to the United States, he said, “Fake news media of the country which is (the) number one oil and gas producer in the world and produces 30 times more oil than Azerbaijan, call us ‘petrostate’. They better look at themselves.”
Azerbaijan isn’t the only nervous fossil fuel producer worried about its future. Petrostates globally are estimated to lose about $8 trillion in revenue between now and 2040 with a moderate-paced transition. Saudi Arabia, one of the largest oil producers, is attempting to rapidly diversify its economy into manufacturing and renewables. To do this it is using its sovereign wealth fund to offer security to investors. Last year it received over $25 billion in investments, 2.4% of its GDP.
Many of the approximately 40 petrostates are heavily dependent on fossil fuel revenues. Analysts point out that several are authoritarian states, corrupt and with weak institutions. Losing petrodollars in a green transition can directly threaten the current ruling elites.
It is usually expected of a COP host country to help steer the negotiations to a consensus and breakthrough.
The UNFCCC, which is the organising body for the annual summit, maintains that hosting a COP is an “exciting way for a country to step into the global spotlight and showcase its commitment to combating climate change.” Hosting a COP, the UN says, can generate and enhance positive national discussions and engagement on sustainability and leave a legacy. But there are enough delegates who were voicing their scepticism in private conversations in the blue zone where the negotiations and media are based.
Azerbaijan has set itself a target to increase the share of renewable power to 30% by 2030 from the current 7% and cut emissions by 40%. However, in a country where it contributes to 90% of its exports and a third of its GDP, letting go of fossil fuels will be hard.
The past and present bear testimony to this barely 10 km away from the stadium where COP29 is being held. Here fossil fuel is being pumped parallel to the climate negotiations to cut the production of fossil fuels.
Humming away are oil well pumpjacks in the Surakhani oil fields. These are right next to a residential area. Along several roads there are high walls but these tall machines are clearly visible as they pump out crude oil. Several of the wells can be seen on Google maps.
A large signboard proclaims the operator, Surakhani Oil Operation Company. The company’s website speaks of its unshakeable values and unquenchable fires; the importance of “black gold” in adding “value to various areas of human life.”
Shallow wells began to be dug here in 1900 to pump out oil and gas. But the area was famous for its reserves for over 1,500 years official literature shows.
Close by is the Atashgah ‘temple of fire’. It is said to have been first made in the 3rd century CE by the Zoroastrians. Fire being sacred to their beliefs and practices, they were attracted by stories about the ‘burning earth’ – methane leaking out of the land and catching fire.
The temple, now a preserved monument and UNESCO heritage site, is well known for inscriptions in Sanskrit and Gurmukhi. The site on the Silk Route is close to the Caspian Sea shore and was frequented by traders and pilgrims.
A series of low-ceiling rooms around the temple today commemorate its varied and layered history. While Zorastrian artefacts and even a Natraj figurine are housed at the site, the oil and gas legacy is commemorated in almost equal measure.
There are pictures of dozens of oil derricks crowding the land in the 19th century. Azerbaijan is where the first industrial oil well was set up in Baku in 1846; for a brief point in time, the country was the biggest oil producer in the world.
Museum notes at the site explain that the over-extraction of the gas most likely caused the fires of the Atashgah temple to eventually go out in the late nineteenth century. However, the Atashgah temple struggled even before the disappearance of the gas for its fires. For various reasons, one note reads, the trade with India had gone into decline and the temple lost its most important patrons.
Incidentally, COP26 was held in Glasgow, U.K., where James Watt in the 1760s vastly improved the coal-fired steam engine thereby paving the way for the Industrial Revolution – and global warming. Last month, the U.K., the first to adopt coal-fired power shut down its last coal-fired power plant. Don’t expect something similar from the COP29 host.
Azerbaijan is expanding its oil & gas business, like several other petrostates. The world, meanwhile, is warming faster.
(The author is a freelance journalist attending COP29)
Published – November 20, 2024 01:41 am IST
