Azerbaijan, which will host the COP29 climate change summit, has not appointed a single woman to its committee
Kyiv • UNN
Azerbaijan's COP29 climate committee consists exclusively of men, which has drawn criticism from the women's rights group She Changes the Climate, which called the decision "regressive." The oil-exporting country has also been criticised for its ambitions in the fossil fuel industry and its intention to increase gas production in the future.
The next United Nations climate conference (COP29) will be organized by a committee consisting exclusively of men. The international organization "She Changes Climate", which unites women involved in the fight against the climate crisis, called this decision "regressive", reports UNN.
Details
The next climate summit to be held in 2024 in Azerbaijan, according to recent statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, will have a committee consisting of 28 men, but no women.
Almost all members of the COP29 committee are ministers or civil servants
For comparison, at COP28 in Dubai, 63% of participants were women.
Representatives of the She Changes Climate movement, which seeks to see more women lead just climate action, responded on Monday to the networkX, condemning the committee's composition as a "step backwards.
This committee is a step back on the road to gender parity in climate; but there is still time for change. We are asking for equal representation in the governance of this year's climate negotiations because climate change affects everyone, not half
Another aspect of the matter pointed out by environmentalists is that for the second year in a row, the UN Climate Summit is being hosted by an oil-exporting country. Last year, according to government reports, Azerbaijan exported 30.2 million tons of oil.
Once again, we call for distance between the fossil fuel industry and the COP presidency, as environmental integrity remains a concern for us and many civil society organizations
Criticism has also recently been voiced by the environmental organization Global Witness, pointing out that Azerbaijan has ambitions to produce significantly more gas in the coming years, as the former Soviet republic's economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas exports.
The conference is expected to be presided over by Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology Mukhtar Babayev, who previously worked for a long time at the state oil company SOCAR.
Recall
During his speech at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on world leaders to end their dependence on fossil fuels. At the UN Climate Conference (COP28), delegates agreed to create a fund to help developing countries.
UNN reportedthat 2023 set a record as the warmest year on record with an average temperature increase of 1.45 degrees; the WMO warns that 2024 could be hotter due to El Niño.
