Oiled
The United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP), an annual climate change conference where world leaders gather to discuss how screwed we are Real has long been proven to be a sham.
The hold the fossil fuel industry has had on organizers and host countries became painfully clear last year when Sultan Al Jaber, conference chairman and Emirati oil executive, claimed there is “no science” behind phasing out fossil fuels to prevent that the global temperature will rise above 1.5 degrees. Celsius, a ridiculous and selfish claim that flies in the face of decades of scientific evidence.
And this year’s COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan appears to be no different. A secret recording obtained by the BBC shows Elnur Soltanov, the CEO of the COP29 team – who also happens to be the Asian country’s Deputy Energy Minister and a senior executive at national oil and gas company Socar – discussing ‘investment opportunities’.
“We have a lot of gas fields that need to be developed,” he says in the video.
Call the COPs
Soltanov tried to woo an undercover representative of the human rights group Global Witness, who told the oil executive he was representing the interests of a fictitious Hong Kong oil and gas company.
“I would like to establish a connection between your team and their team [Socar] so they can start discussions,” Soltanov told the fake oil agent.
None of this should be a big surprise. Azerbaijan’s economy is largely dependent on oil and accounts for as much as 90 percent of the experts.
Naturally, the UN body reacted indignantly and told the UN BBC that Soltanov’s naked interest in promoting oil and gas investments was “completely unacceptable” and a “betrayal.”
Christiana Figueres, who oversaw the signing of the historic Paris Agreement in 2015, told the BBC that Soltanov’s conduct was ‘contrary and egregious’ to the purpose of the annual conferences, and was a ‘betrayal’.
Last year’s COP28 conference turned into a counterproductive circus as the BBC revealed at the time, with the United Arab Emirates using planned meetings for ‘private’ talks on oil and gas matters.
In other words, claiming that these summits are intended to “measure progress and negotiate multilateral responses to climate change” is in many ways misleading and dishonest.
After all, the kind of investments Soltanov is encouraging directly contradicts the pledge that countries made at last year’s climate change conference when they agreed to move away from fossil fuels.
In short, COP29 sounds like little more than a forum for oil and gas executives to strike new deals – and world leaders to make empty promises, often without taking any meaningful action.
More about COP: Scientists warn that the climate conference in Dubai is full of nonsense
