CLIMATE activists issued a fresh call for civil resistance today after the chief of Cop29 was secretly filmed appearing to facilitate fossil fuel deals at the summit.
NGO Global Witness posed as a fake oil and gas group hoping to invest in the Azerbaijani fossil fuel sector and sponsor this year’s conference in Baku.
On a call, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Energy Minister and Cop29 chief executive Elnur Soltanov told them there were “a lot of joint ventures that could be established.”
He promised to create a contact between the fake firm and Socar, Azerbaijan’s state oil company “so that they can start discussions.”
Mr Soltanov reportedly added that even if the world reaches net zero, “we will have a certain amount of oil and natural gas being produced, perhaps forever.”
It comes after countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels at Cop28 last year.
On its website, the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), which oversees Cop, says that officials should not use their roles “to seek private gain.”
A spokesperson for Global Witness said: “Petrostates are perfecting a sinister playbook which sees Cop as just another business opportunity for polluters.”
Sponsors are meant to promise to cut emissions as part of the UN’s Race to Zero programme and sign a national pledge to come up with a net-zero transition plan.
But Global Witness says that Cop29 waived the requirements at negotiations.
It urged the UNFCCC to enforce a ban on fossil fuel sponsors at Cop and kick out their lobbyists for good.
The UN told the BBC that “the same rigorous standards” are applied to whoever hosts the conference, that reflect “the importance of impartiality on the part of all presiding officers.
“Given the spiralling human and economic costs of the global climate crisis in every country, we are very focused on Cop29 delivering ambitious and concrete outcomes.”
A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion said: “These revelations should shatter any remaining illusions people have about the Cop process.
“The rich in league with big oil, gas and coal are pushing us all over the climate cliff, just to get a last dollar.
“It’s time for everyone to rise up in rebellion and civil resistance and end the fossil fuel industry before it ends us.”
In September, Tongan activist Joseph Zane Sikulu wrote an open letter to Cop29 president Mukhtar Babayev, a former oil executive, who with a delegation visited the vulnerable Pacific island as it experienced climate change-induced extreme weather.
Accusing Azerbaijan of having misleading climate goals, he said: “You speak of ‘reducing emissions by 40 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2050.’
“However, your emissions were much higher in 1990 than they are in the 21st century.”
During last year’s Cop in Dubai, chaired by Sultan al-Jaber, talking points leaked by the Centre for Climate Reporting suggested that he planned to use the meeting to push oil deals for his firm Adnoc. He denied the allegations.
However Global Witness found that the firm had pursued deals worth over $100bn (£77.6bn) that year, a five-fold increase compared to the year before.
Last month, the 2024 State of the Climate report by leading climate scientists warned that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance” and urged “top priority” be given to phasing out fossil fuels.
Anita Bhadani from Global Justice Now emphasised that corporate influences must not be allowed to take control of the opportunity the summit offers.
She said: “We need to be co-ordinating for a rapid and globally just transition and, as one of the highest historical emitters, the UK must prove it is taking transformative action to bring an end to the fossil fuel era for good.”
The organisation is one of many, including XR and Just Stop Oil, that will be joining the March for Global Climate Justice in London calling for an end to reliance on fossil fuels on November 16.
