The president of Azerbaijan added 12 women this Friday to the COP29 organizing committee, whose initial composition, 100% male, had aroused the ire of NGOs and politicians, according to a statement published by the Azerbaijani press agency APA.
With a view to the 29th United Nations climate change conference, scheduled for next December in Baku, President Ilham Aliev appointed on January 13 an organizing committee made up of 28 men, mainly ministers and heads of administration.
The absence of women “is a setback on the path towards gender parity in the climate field, but there is still time to change,” criticized the NGO She Changes Climate in a press release on Monday.
“No woman who welcomes… could mean… no woman who wants to come… therefore there is no quorum… therefore… there is no COP,” the minister wrote on X (ex Twitter). Spanish Environment Minister, Teresa Ribera, who co-led the European delegation at COP28 in Dubai.
The new composition of the committee includes 13 more names, including 12 women, including Sabina Aliyeva, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilhama Gadimova and Deputy Minister of Ecology Umayra Taghiyeva, as well as two party deputies presidential, Nigar Arpadarai and Sevinj Fataliyeva.
Azerbaijan, whose economy depends almost half on hydrocarbons, will host COP29 from November 11 to 22, 2024.
The COP will be chaired by the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mukhtar Babayev, a former official at the Socar oil company.
This is the second year in a row that the COP will be chaired by a man from the fossil fuel industry, following COP28 headed by Sultan Al Jaber, chairman of the UAE’s national oil and gas company.
COP presidents do not have a decision-making role, but are essential in catalyzing negotiations and proposing compromises.
COP28 produced a historic agreement that paved the way for the gradual abandonment of fossil fuels, the main causes of global warming, despite numerous concessions to oil and gas powers.
Financing the transition away from fossil fuels, particularly in developing countries, and reassessing financial assistance from developed countries will be priorities for COP29.
