COP29, the annual UN climate summit, is underway. The host, Azerbaijan, an oil-rich nation, presents a stark contradiction. The Absheron peninsula, according to local scientists, faces significant environmental challenges.
While Azerbaijan’s oil and gas exports constitute 95% of its economy, the benefits are not widely shared, according to Crude Accountability. Their 2020 report, “The Empty Bucket of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan,” highlights a declining quality of life and widespread poverty affecting a quarter of the population.
President Aliyev, overseeing the State Oil Fund, considers Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel reserves a significant asset, despite their failure to improve the lives of his citizens.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 hosting is attributed to its efforts to cultivate relationships with global elites, using strategies including international events like Formula 1. This is an example of what scholars term “sharpening,” where authoritarian regimes enhance global influence to consolidate domestic power. Azerbaijan’s approach is particularly effective.
Azerbaijan’s human rights record and environmental policies are concerning. The Aliyev family has ruled for over five decades. Critics face repression, including house arrest, imprisonment, exile, and even assassination. Among those targeted is the lead author of Crude Accountability’s 2020 report, arrested in July 2023.
Azerbaijan’s 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in the displacement of the Armenian population, defying International Court of Justice orders. This action was presented as an environmental operation, with Karabakh subsequently declared “carbon neutral.” President Aliyev celebrated this with a spring equinox bonfire.
Azerbaijan’s use of environmentalism to justify actions deemed by human rights groups as ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh makes its hosting of COP29 deeply problematic, especially considering ongoing aggression against Armenia.
Despite this, there is resistance from international organizations, climate activists such as —who criticizes Azerbaijan for its human rights abuses and use of COP29 for image enhancement— and Azerbaijani activists.
The case of illustrates the risks faced by activists. This academic, currently imprisoned, called for a voice at COP29 during a prison transfer. He is one of many political prisoners, including two dozen Karabakh leaders facing lengthy sentences.
Many argue that a petro-state with Azerbaijan’s record should not have hosted COP29. The focus now is on whether world leaders will advocate for Azerbaijani political prisoners and Armenian hostages, demanding their release and the safe return of the displaced Armenian population.
The situation in Azerbaijan has global implications. The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the lack of global consequences, emboldened other autocrats. The actions taken in Baku this week will set a precedent.
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