Tokyo, 11 January, /AJMEDIA/
The decision to hold the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan pushes some hostile forces to start a campaign of Azerbaijan’s vilification, doctor of economic sciences Ingilab Ahmadov told Trend.
“Their main ‘argument’ is that an oil and gas producing country cannot be a true driver of green energy, and holding such a global event in a such country does not match the goals of the UN Climate Summit. Based on the arguments presented by the critics, I can say that they are, to put it mildly, very poor,” Ahmadov said.
He said that for some reason, there’s a conclusion that Azerbaijan, boosting gas production, soon will become the main supplier of gas and will overflow Europe with its exports.
“However, the Eurostat data shows that Azerbaijan was among the minority gas suppliers to the EU in the third quarter of 2023 with a share of 5.9 percent of pipeline gas, while Norway’s share was 48.6 percent,” Ahmadov emphasized.
He reminded that COP28 was held in the UAE, a country among the world’s top oil producers, and there were similar accusations against the UAE as well, but the situation with Azerbaijan is different.
“For the first time such a young country as Azerbaijan, which has not been particularly favored by European preferences so far, will hold a COP conference. Although Azerbaijan remains an extractive country, it is intensively building up the potential of renewable energy sources and realizing global projects in this sphere. But, for some reason, the ill-wishers are not interested in this side. The argument that climate policy should be led by the states, who are leaders in the matters related to climate change, means that the world is being divided into two sides – suppliers and consumers of fossil fuels, which is fundamentally wrong and even dangerous,” Ahmadov said.
He noted that it is necessary to encourage the initiatives of extractive countries that are trying to revolutionize the vector of energy strategy by building up the potential of renewable energy sources, often to the detriment of their profitability.
“However, this seemingly positive signal for the world is completely dismissed by critics and instead, they focus on the growth of investments in the gas sector. The reality is that the world in general, and Europe in particular, will need gas for a long time, and there is no way getting around it,” Ahmadov said.
He noted that Azerbaijan’s energy strategy in this aspect is aligned with the global tendency of green energy and is designed for a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources.
“Target indicators of the country on climate change confirm that not only European countries (buyers of gas) but also countries producing fossil fuels can be in the forefront of the implementation of the green climate agenda,” Ahmadov said.
