Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, addressed the issue in a letter published in The Financial Times.
Hajiyev highlighted the hypocrisy in criticizing petrostates as unfit hosts for climate summits, noting that only Switzerland is not on the list of fossil fuel producers. “Every country in the world — bar none — is a fossil fuel consumer,” he pointed out.
Instead of focusing on fossil fuel production, Hajiyev urged attention to be placed on how a country came to host COP, what they aim to achieve, and why. He added that Azerbaijan never sought to host the summit but stepped up when Armenia agreed to support its candidacy last December as part of ongoing peace talks.
While substantial progress has been made in the negotiations, Hajiyev noted that an official peace agreement with Armenia might not be signed before COP29. “Armenia’s constitution still contains a revanchist claim on Azerbaijani territory, and the speed of reaching a final peace deal depends on how quickly Armenia moves on this issue,” he explained.
Regardless of the timing of a peace deal, Hajiyev stated that COP29 will still be a “COP of peace” due to its origins in the peace process. The summit will focus on increasing the New Collective Quantified Goal, aimed at turning the global energy transition from fossil fuels into reality.
Azerbaijan, he added, has already established a climate fund and expects contributions from other oil and gas-producing nations. The country is also making strides in the renewable energy sector, including projects that shift from fossil fuel exports to electricity, with plans for an undersea electricity cable linking Caspian wind power to Europe.
Hajiyev concluded by stating that Azerbaijan is hosting COP “because we are walking the path to peace,” and will advocate for new funding mechanisms to finance a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
