UN urged to ban Cop climate talks in pro-fossil fuel countries
Prominent figures make appeal to the United Nations as Azerbaijan, a major oil and gas producer, hosts Cop29
Prominent scientists and politicians are calling on the United Nations to not allow the UN climate conference to be hosted in countries that do not support the phase out of fossil fuels.
The appeal, in a letter published on Friday during the Cop29 conference in Baku, comes as climate groups released an analysis showing at least 1,773 lobbyists from the oil, gas, and coal industries were officially accredited to attend the UN meeting in Azerbaijan.
In Baku, the coalition Kick Big Polluters Out, which is supported by organisations like Transparency International, Global Witness, Greenpeace, and the Climate Action Network, released its analysis on Friday using publicly accessible data from the UN Climate Secretariat, it said.
The appeal to not allow those intent on producing energy with fossil fuels to host the conference follows criticism of picking Azerbaijan to host this year’s meeting, as the country is an authoritarian ex-Soviet republic that bases 90 per cent of its export economy on oil and gas.
In an open letter to UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell, the signatories said the UN must apply strict admission criteria to exclude countries as hosts that do not support the unanimously decided shift away from coal, oil, and gas.
