Economic and Political Crossroads: Azerbaijan’s Path Forward in the Face of Declining Oil Wealth

Azerbaijan plans to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 54.99 million tons of carbon equivalent by 2030, down from 61 million tons in 2024, the government has reported.

At the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which began in Baku on November 11, a decision was made to allocate $300 billion annually for climate financing by 2035. Additionally, ten years of negotiations on high-quality carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement were concluded. A decision was also made to fully operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund.

On the night of November 23-24, the five-hour closing ceremony of the 29th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP29) concluded with the adoption of the “Baku Climate Unity Pact”. This pact encompasses three key decisions of the summit:

On Thursday, November 21, a day before the official conclusion of COP29 (although it may be extended until November 24), participants of the UN climate summit, chaired by Azerbaijan, held discussions within the framework of the “Kurultai” initiative about two proposed texts for the "New Collective Quantified Goal" on climate financing (NCQG), according to ASTNA.