Azerbaijani minister, secretary-general of Muslim Council of Elders discuss preparations for COP29

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources reported that Mohamed Abdelsalam, the Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders, and Mukhtar Babayev, the Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, convened for a meeting, Azernews informs.

They discussed plans regarding the upcoming 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), set to be held in Azerbaijan in November this year.

Note that COP29 will be held in Baku this November.

The hosting of the COP normally rotates among the five regional groups of the UN. Each regional group must decide by consensus to nominate a country from among its members to host this conference.

It was the Eastern European regional group's turn to host COP29 in 2024. Our country, which is included in the mentioned group, submitted its candidacy for holding the conference in Azerbaijan. Along with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Bulgaria also submitted their candidacies. In a joint statement issued as a result of direct negotiations between the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia on December 7, Armenia withdrew its candidacy in favour of Azerbaijan. After that, Bulgaria also withdrew its candidacy.

Thus, on December 9, the Eastern European regional group identified Azerbaijan as the country that will host the COP in 2024.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has joined the fight against global climate change by being a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our country aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by 35 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. After 2030, a more ambitious target has been set, which consists of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2050.

The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan has declared the freed lands of our country a "Green Energy" zone. It is planned to turn these areas into "net zero emission" zones by 2050.