COP29 Host Azerbaijan Says Its Fossil Fuel Is ‘Gift From God’
- President Aliyev commits to boosting investments in gas
- Country also touts its rollout of green energies this decade
Olaf Scholz welcomes Ilham Aliyev on April 26.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergAzerbaijan, host of this year’s COP29 climate summit, will continue to invest in increasing gas production in order to feed demand from Europe as its president said that its abundant fossil fuels were a “gift from God.”
President Ilham Aliyev said at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin that oil and gas would be needed for “many more years” as the country prepares to host the 29th United Nations’ Conference of the Parties, or COP29, in Baku later this year. He highlighted an agreement reached with the European Union to scale up supplies of natural gas to help make up for Russian shortfalls after its invasion of Ukraine.