A petrostate on the shores of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan finds itself in the spotlight by hosting, from November 11 to 22, the largest UN climate conference, COP29. Debating ways to combat climate change in a country whose president, Ilham Aliev, praises oil as a “gift from God” and where 92% of exports come from fossil fuels may seem counterintuitive, especially since Azerbaijan does not place the green transition among its own priorities. “No one can ignore the fact that, without fossil fuels, the world cannot develop, at least in the foreseeable future,” the head of state justified in March. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers The COP29 opens in a geopolitical climate weighed down by the election of Trump and the economic situation Read later Mr. Aliev’s priority in hosting the COP29 in Baku seems rather to be to restore his image and acquire a respectability undermined by his autocratic management of this country of 10 million inhabitants. Elected in February for a fifth term in a row with 92% of the votes, at the end of a vote marked by irregularities, Ilham Aliev succeeded in 2003 his father, Geïdar Aliev, who was already ruling Azerbaijan at the time. where the country was a Soviet republic. President Aliev’s wife, Mehriban Alieva, has been the country’s vice president since 2017. The courageous local journalists whose investigations exposed the regime’s fraudulent practices and corruption are in prison. Azerbaijan is ranked 130th in the world in the Economist Democracy Index and 164th place – out of 180 – in the Reporters Without Borders world ranking. However, President Aliyev’s popularity has recently skyrocketed following the reconquest of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory recaptured in 2023 at the cost of the brutal exodus of 100,000 Armenians. Continuing deterioration of Baku-Paris relations Alongside a sudden greening of Baku, where cycle paths appeared in the run-up to the COP, repression has intensified in recent months with the arrest, according to NGOs, of 30 opponents, journalists and trade unionists. There are no longer any independent environmental organizations active in Azerbaijan. Read also | Article reserved for our COP29 subscribers: “No developed country will be able to commit to the climate financing requested by the countries of the South” Read later Consequence of the continued deterioration of relations between Paris and Baku, largely due to the support of France to Armenia but also the recent assassination of an Azerbaijani political refugee in Mulhouse, President Emmanuel Macron will not go to COP29. The representation of the European Union, whose climate policy is nevertheless a priority, will be rather discreet in Baku: consumed by the prospect of early elections in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz canceled his trip, and the President of the European Commission , Ursula von der Leyen, will not go either. It is to be hoped that the question of the Old Continent’s continued dependence on Azerbaijani oil and gas as well as liquefied gas from Russia, of which France remains a large consumer, will nevertheless be raised. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers COP29: between France and Azerbaijan, an unprecedented crisis Read later The Azerbaijanis no longer have any effective mechanism enabling them to sound the alarm on environmental problems, particularly on effects of pollution resulting from the oil and gas industry. The fight against global warming cannot be done without the participation of civil society. This is the message that the leaders and diplomats gathered in Baku must bring to President Aliyev. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers COP29: Azerbaijan wants to improve its image without giving up oil Read later Le Monde Reuse this content
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