COP29 will be held in Azerbaijan in 2024

The decision regarding COP29 was made at the plenary meeting of COP28 held on December 11. Speaking at the event, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mukhtar Babayev thanked the Convention Secretariat and the United Arab Emirates for organizing the COP28 at a high level. The minister noted: "The problems we are facing require collective action, commitment to agreed common goals and aspirations. Azerbaijan understands the importance of joint efforts in the fight against climate change. The strong political will demonstrated by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the support of the countries that are members of the Eastern European Group to Azerbaijan's candidacy to host the COP29 played a decisive role in our success today.

Expressing his deep gratitude to the countries of the Eastern European Group for the decision to support Azerbaijan as the host country of COP29, M. Babayev noted that with its rich cultural heritage and dynamic energy, our country will be an important stage for the world community to come together to solve the current problems of our time.

"We recognize the importance of a coordinated response to climate change, and through joint initiatives, we aim to strengthen our impact and accelerate progress towards a sustainable future," the minister said, thanking all COP28 participants and organizers once again. Then a video showing the culture, history, nature and achievements of Azerbaijan in recent years was shown. Later, the President of COP28, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technologies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sultan Ahmed Al-Jabir announced that the next COP conference will be held in Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that the hosting of the COP usually rotates among the five regional groups of the UN. Each regional group must decide by consensus to nominate a country from among its members to host this conference.

It was the Eastern European regional group's turn to host COP29 in 2024. Our country, which is included in the mentioned group, submitted its candidacy for holding the conference in Azerbaijan. Along with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Bulgaria also submitted their candidacies. In a joint statement issued as a result of direct negotiations between the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia on December 7, Armenia withdrew its candidacy in favor of Azerbaijan. After that, Bulgaria also withdrew its candidacy.

Thus, on December 9, the Eastern European regional group identified Azerbaijan as the country that will host the COP in 2024.

Azerbaijan's hosting of COP29, one of the world's largest and most important interstate events, in 2024 is another solemn victory of the state of Azerbaijan. This is one of the biggest successes of our foreign policy after our chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement and our membership in the Security Council.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has joined the fight against global climate change by being a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our country aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by 35 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. After 2030, a more ambitious target has been set, which consists of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2050.

The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan has declared the freed lands of our country as "Green Energy" zone. It is planned to turn these areas into "Net zero emission" zones by 2050.

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP is the highest decision-making body of the Convention. Its secretariat is located in Bonn. Every year, government representatives from all over the world gather at the COP and call for joint efforts to prevent climate change and eliminate its consequences. The first meeting of the COP was held in Berlin in 1995.