Host nation unleashes on audience at COP29, declaring oil and gas a 'gift from God'
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has celebrated fossil fuels as a 'gift from God' at the COP29 climate talks.
The president of host nation Azerbaijan has unleashed on his audience at the COP29 United Nations climate talks. Overnight, Ilham Aliyev used his keynote speech to describe oil and gas as a “gift from God” and accused media, NGOs and politicians who have criticised his country's extraction of them of "slander and blackmail".
He added that “countries should not be blamed for having [oil and gas] and should not be blamed for bringing the resources to the market, because the market needs them”.
While his comments were met with rapturous applause by some attendees, including Saudi Arabia, environmentalists were less enthusiastic about the speech.
It's the third year in a row that the COP has been hosted by a country with heavy economic ties to the fossil fuel industry, and it’s not the first time a leader has been accused of making "disappointing" comments by renewable energy advocates. Last year, the UAE president Sultan Al Jaber, who is also chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, claimed there was “no science” suggesting a phase-out of fossil fuels would keep the global temperature rise within 1.5C of the pre-industrial average.
Looking to Azerbaijan, figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show the two fossil fuels account for about 90 per cent of exports. However, it has also been flagged as having the potential to increase green energy production due to significant biomass, geothermal, and hydropower prospects.
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Are the COP climate talks losing momentum?
There are signs that international leaders and some NGOs believe the United Nations' talks have lost momentum. The last Australian prime minister to attend was Scott Morrison in 2021. And Yahoo News understands the nation’s current leader Anthony Albanese is unlikely to attend this year, although his office has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
His government has vowed to expand gas production and exploration — a fossil fuel linked to global warming — and it has approved new coal mines since winning the 2022 election. But it has also pledged to cut the nation's emissions, with a plan to reach net zero by 2050. Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will be attending the conference, but he was not available for interview.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), which has one delegate at COP29, said the ambition and the scale of the negotiations have been impacted over the last three years because they’ve been hosted by “petro-states”.
“But ultimately we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, it was the COP that delivered the Paris Agreement that has centred and galvanised action around limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees,” ACF spokesperson Anika Reynolds told Yahoo News.
“That has put us on a markedly different trajectory from 2015 onwards in terms of where scientists expected us to be right now.”
Why Australia's bid to host COP31 is critical
Reynolds said Aliyev’s comments were “disappointing” and the situation highlights the importance of Australia’s bid to host COP31 alongside other Pacific nations whose existence is threatened by rising sea levels and extreme weather.
“Small island developing states and developing countries who have contributed the least to historic and current climate change need to be given a much bigger voice and much greater power in these negotiations,” they said.
The annual United Nations convened talks are tasked with bringing world leaders together to fight the climate crisis, with mechanisms including reducing the use of fossil fuels and embracing renewables.
Bushfire victims 'not thinking' of fossil fuels as 'gift'
The CEO of the Climate Council, Amanda McKenzie, hit back at Aliyev's comments, noting Australia has been ravaged by disasters linked to climate change, including flooding and the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires.
“Communities on the front lines of climate change are not thinking of fossil fuels as a ‘gift’. Every ounce of oil and gas burned today threatens the future safety and wellbeing of Australians, Pacific islanders, and communities worldwide," she said.
"Global leaders must accelerate support for renewables, boost climate finance, and ensure climate-polluting companies pay their fair share to help fund recovery and resilience.”
Media accused of 'slander and blackmail'
By calling fossil fuels a "gift from God", Aliyev appeared to be noting they are a natural resource. And he does not think his nation should be maligned for extracting them, particularly as its share of global gas production is 0.9 per cent, while oil is just 0.7 per cent.
Aliyev said his comments were in response to what he said were “fake news” reports from Western media — particularly the United States and Europe — alleging his nation was a major fossil fuel producer. “Right after Azerbaijan was elected as a host country of COP29, we became a target of a coordinated, well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail,” he said.
He then turned his attention to “so-called independent NGOs and some politicians”, accusing them of “competing in spreading disinformation”.
António Guterres responds to ongoing support of fossil fuels
As expected, UN Secretary-General António Guterres continued to warn about the danger of climate change overnight. As the planet has been ravaged by worsening “unnatural” disasters caused by climate change — most recently in Spain where flooding killed at least 222 people — his warnings about the crisis have become more direct.
“We’ve just had the hottest day, the hottest months, the hottest years, and the hottest decade in the history books. Climate disasters are piling up — harming those who’ve done the least, the most," he said.
“We see economies wrecked, lives taken, livelihoods lost, and development denied. And meanwhile, those that contribute more to the destruction — particularly the fossil fuel industry — continue to reap massive profits and subsidies.”
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