Azerbaijan was selected this year to host the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29). A mix of international climate experts, politicians, activists, and enterprises gathered in Baku to express that they are all really worried about the climate. What distinguished this year's summit was that President Ilham Aliyev added a geopolitical dimension, highlighting France's and the Netherlands' abuses in their former colonies and overseas territories, resulting in crocodile tears from both countries.
By Arthur Blok
In addition to the usual suspects, green-loving lefties and radical climate activists, an impressive pack of world-touring vegans gathered in Baku for this year’s 29th show of the UN’s climate circus. Ironically, without exception, they flew in from faraway places in South and North America, Asia, Africa, and even Australia. Taking the large carbon footprint that comes with such flights - something they all really oppose - for granted. A sacrifice for the greater good, perhaps?
From an organisational perspective, it was a job well done. Participants were treated to a genuine Azerbaijani welcome, with friendly and helpful volunteers scattered across the capital and free metro and bus access. It was an unprecedented welcome compared to previous editions in which I had the privilege of attending and participating (as a moderator).
The flawless organisation and festival-like atmosphere were a thorn in the eye for many in the ‘civilised West’. For months, Western mainstream media, run by radical lefties, have seen the choice of Azerbaijan as the location for the conference as controversial due to its significant oil and gas production, just like was the case last year at COP28 in Dubai.
It's not that anybody in Azerbaijan cares, but still, it illustrates the superiority complex of the West, where hypocrisy and self-righteousness dominate public opinion. Especially regarding climate change, they like patting themselves on the back while lecturing others on how to behave and what to do.
For those unaware of what COP stands for, it is an annual summit organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. The Convention has near universal membership (198 Parties). It is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement, aiming to keep this century's global average temperature rise as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
This all sounds lovely, but for those who have a basic knowledge about the Earth’s climate, it is a farce, and COP is just an annual show of fearmongering spread by politicians and subsidised movements that receives disproportional attention in the above-mentioned coloured media.
For those with the brain capacity to analyse the actual climate data of the past, say, 2000 years, it is evident that climate change is inherent to the planet. The Earth’s climate is extremely complex, but one thing is clear: science is not settled, and it is counterproductive to the world to pretend it is.
Do not get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with the message of sustainability and the notion of taking care of the planet and its environment. It should be at the top of every national agenda and people’s minds. But for the right reasons.
Ironically, all roads of the globalist climate agenda lead to limiting individual freedom. In addition, it intends to raise taxes further to pay for disproportionally expensive, often non-sustainable, energy transitions using things like solar panels (which cost more energy to produce than generate) and wind turbines (which have a devastating environmental effect).
This is something nobody really likes to hear.
Climate Intelligence
Let’s be frank: numerous independent peer-reviewed studies on the causes of climate change are categorically ignored. Most of them state that CO2 is not the culprit, that the fluctuations in temperature in the past three decades fall well within the acceptable bandwidth, and that the so-called climate emergency is nothing more than a hoax.
It is a very lucrative hoax, but it is based on false assumptions. This year's big turnout of commercial entities active in the sustainable industry was striking in that perspective. For those unaware, those same commercial entities paid for the travel expenses of many of the activists rallying at the event.
In the past 30 years, it has become a one-sided story almost implanted at schools. Fatalistic visions of the future create ridiculous new disorders like climate anxiety, resulting in panic attacks, insomnia, obsessive thinking, and other symptoms for many youngsters.
There is hope. More genuine climate experts dare to speak up against the discourse of fear. Climate Intelligence (Clintel), an international climate change and policy foundation, takes the lead with honest climate science and assures no climate emergency.
After its launch in 2019, it published the World Climate Declaration (WCD), which has an impressive list of over 2000 signatories worldwide, including Nobel Prize laureates and leading scientists and climate experts who are not on the payroll of large corporations that dictate “scientific” research and spend billions annually to silence alternative voices.
A striking example is the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an intergovernmental body of the UN that aims to ‘advance scientific knowledge’ about climate change caused by human activities. All to alter governmental policies. Unfortunately, it is designed to ignore crucial peer-reviewed literature and eagerly cherry-picks evidence to promote doom scenarios.
While the IPCC presents itself as a scientific institute, it refused repeated calls for dialogue with critical scientists on the many flaws in its latest report. The IPCC’s chair, Jim Skea, refuses to answer numerous requests for an interview from The Liberum, surrounding himself with mediocre press officers who barely speak English. That certainly doesn't speak in his favour.
Perhaps he is hiding something, or is he simply afraid his institute will be exposed? Refusing calls for dialogue and debate findings certainly has nothing to do with science.
President Ilham Aliyev
With his speech in the first week of the summit, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev further strained relations with France and the Netherlands over what he described as colonial rule. During his speech, Aliyev advocated for the oppressed peoples in (former) colonies such as New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Mayotte, Corsica, Réunion, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.
He called on developed countries, especially those with a colonial past, to provide tangible financial and technical support to small island states so that they can protect their countries from the complications of climate change. Something Baku already does in those areas. There is nothing wrong with showcasing that.
Aliyev's pragmatic approach was a thorn in the eye of France and the Netherlands, especially after the media in those countries widely reported on it. As a result, the Dutch COP29 delegation consisted of insignificant, characterless figures and a cancellation of French environmental transition minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
Another thing that bothers Western European counterparts is Azerbaijan’s growing geopolitical influence. From 2019 to 2023, the country successfully chaired the Non-Aligned Movement (a forum of 120 countries not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc).
Baku Initiative Group
To eradicate abuses in the (former) colonies, Baku profiled itself in the past years as a platform for dialogue and NGOs such as the Baku Initiative Group (BIG). The BIG held several side events with packed stands at COP29 to raise awareness by presenting facts and actual cases from the ground to the global community, which is commonly unaware of the exact situation in colonised regions.
Over the past decades, colonialism and neocolonialism have had many negative impacts on these regions, such as environmental problems and problems in public health. Numerous examples exist to support this perspective.
For example, the French government’s nuclear tests in French Polynesia. Something that was kept under the radar for the global community as much as possible, but with disastrous environmental consequences on the islands. Another good example is the pollution in Guadeloupe caused by the polyethene industry, including the severe groundwater pollution in Martinique. Not to mention the pollution derived from nickel production in New Caledonia.
After visiting Baku a few times, one thing became evident: Baku has both feet on the ground regarding geopolitical matters. Side events organised by local think tanks, like a session on ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels’ hosted by the Baku-based Center of Analysis of International Relations, were illustrative.
At the session, where a representative from COP30 organiser Brazil was invited, the participants remained realistic about the importance of fossil fuels in the years to come. They said it would be a big mistake to keep reducing supply while demand remains intact, citing the example of everything manufactured at the event site being made of fossil fuels. In addition, many questions have a strong ethical nature. It is not that people will stop flying suddenly; the way forward lies in finding better, optimised techniques.
If there is one thing that is stuck in my head from this year’s COP edition in Baku, it is the down-to-earth, realistic approach facilitated by the local organisers. Bold and fearmongering statements were reserved for the visiting foreign delegations, while Baku is breaking its head on implementing measures that make a practical difference.
