In a statement to journalists, Hajiyev noted that in the history of COP summits, nearly all host countries—apart from Switzerland—are linked to fossil fuel production in some way.
“The other side of this issue is that while there may be a supply of fossil fuels from one side, there is also demand on the other. One could say that all parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are consumers of fossil fuels. What we see here are elements of shallow populism. The world today has real needs, and fossil fuels are a part of our current reality. Of course, this has negative impacts on climate change, but the solution is to work together to address it, not to engage in cheap and pointless debates,” Hajiyev emphasized.
He added that previous COP host countries are also involved in fossil fuel or coal production in some form:
“European countries have hosted COP before us. For example, Poland, one of the world’s largest coal producers, has hosted COP. The conference was also held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, which is a major coal production center. Therefore, we should be facilitating constructive, result-oriented discussions rather than engaging in mutual accusations.”
