Azerbaijan points finger at West as it defends Cop29

President Ilham Aliyev says oil is 'gift from God' and that country should host summit. Stuti Mishra reports from Baku

- Stuti Mishra

Oil and gas are a "gift of god", Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev told the Cop29 climate conference yesterday. Speaking to delegates at the United Nations summit, held in the capital city of Baku, Mr Aliyev defended his nation's fossil fuel resources after some campaigners had criticised holding the event in Azerbaijan.

He added that “countries should not be blamed for having [oil and gas] and should not be blamed for bringing the resources to the market, because the market needs them”.

“As a president of Cop29 of course, we will be a strong advocate for green transition, and we are doing it. But at the same time, we must be realistic,” said Mr Aliyev, who has labelled his country’s oil and gas resources a “gift from god”. “Azerbaijan’s share in global gas emissions is only 0.1 per cent”, he told the conference.

The declaration stunned many at the summit, where global leaders, thousands of delegates and campaigners have assembled to push for a transition away from oil and gas.

Azerbaijan’s role as the host was already controversial. Before the start of the summit, recordings highlighted in a report by the BBC allegedly showed the chief executive of Azerbaijan’s Cop29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing “investment opportunities” in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor.