TAG: COP29
Tony Blair seeks climate role at COP29 in Azerbaijan
LONDON — Tony Blair was once hired to lobby for a gas pipeline from Azerbaijan that activists described as a “carbon bomb.” Now he wants to help the Baku government run its climate talks.The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), which was founded...
6 months ago
No more ‘business as usual’ in climate fight, UN boss warns ‘slipping’ politicians
LONDON — The world’s richest countries must end their “business as usual” approach to climate change or risk worsening global inequality, a leading United Nations diplomat warned Wednesday.Simon Stiell, executive secretary for U.N. Climate Change, told an...
6 months ago
Azerbaijan president: COP29 won’t stop us investing in ‘god-given’ gas
Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan — the host of the U.N.’s next climate talks — used a major address Friday to send Europe a pointed message: you need our gas.The country’s fossil fuel reserves were “a gift of the gods,” Aliyev told a gathering of min...
5 months ago
Fossil fuel extraction compatible with climate action, says COP29 host Azerbaijan
BRUSSELS — Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s global climate talks, has suggested that continued fossil fuel extraction is compatible with the Paris Agreement. With four months to go until COP29 kicks off in Baku, the Azerbaijani presidency on Friday ann...
2 months ago
EU prepares for COP29 showdown with China over climate aid
BRUSSELS — The European Union plans to pressure emerging economies such as China to contribute funding for climate action in developing nations at global negotiations in November, according to a document seen by POLITICO. Financing is at the center of thi...
2 months ago
Wary of Trump, Azerbaijan, businesses shun COP climate talks
The once ever-accelerating corporate roadshow at the annual United Nations climate talks is finally slowing down — at least for this year. Businesses of all stripes are planning to either skip or send smaller delegations to this year’s global COP29 climat...
2 months ago
EU condemns Azerbaijan crackdown after peace activist charged with ‘treason’
The EU has called on Azerbaijan to respect the rights of a prominent scholar jailed after publicly criticizing the government, amid a wave of arrests that has seen journalists and academics put behind bars. Speaking to POLITICO, Peter Stano, the EU's fore...
1 month ago
UK slammed for watering down key climate pledge
LONDON — U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy stood up to give a speech in London Tuesday wanting to be a global climate leader. By the time he sat down he had managed to undermine those sweeping ambitions.Lammy has since drawn criticism from diplomats and...
3 weeks ago
Use climate summit to save our dad, say children of London academic held in Azerbaijan
LONDON — The children of a London-based academic held under house arrest in Azerbaijan have urged U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to use global climate talks in Baku to press for their father’s release.Gubad Ibadoghlu, a senior visiting fellow at the Lon...
1 week ago
EU must confront Azerbaijan at COP29 over human rights crackdown, top NGOs demand
Western nations should use this year's COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan to pressure Baku over its "vicious crackdown" on journalists, opposition figures and activists, leading human rights organizations urged in a report published Tuesday.As global focus...
1 week ago
The EU’s (vague) climate aid stance: Want more money? Get more donors.
BRUSSELS — Ahead of next month's United Nations climate summit, the European Union is playing its cards close to its chest. The bloc's finance ministers on Tuesday approved the 27 countries' joint negotiating position regarding the central issue of the up...
1 week ago
Back off, Azerbaijan tells human rights critics ahead of COP29
Don’t bring your human rights concerns to Azerbaijan for COP29, one of the country’s top officials declared as criticism mounts of his government’s domestic record ahead of the annual climate summit.Speaking to POLITICO, Azerbaijani foreign policy chief H...
3 days ago
World fails first review of COP renewable energy goal
BRUSSELS — Reaching the landmark renewable energy targets agreed at last year’s global climate summit will remain a distant dream unless the world invests more than $30 trillion over the next six years. That’s the stark warning the International Renewable...
2 days ago
‘Real risk’ that climate aid talks will fail, key COP29 negotiator warns
LUXEMBOURG — Global talks on how to fund climate action are so tricky that countries may not reach a deal at next month’s United Nations summit, a key negotiator said on Monday.Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan, who last week was appointed to co-lead...
1 day ago