Azerbaijan shares vision for decarbonizing aviation at COP29

During the COP29 Presidency Press Conference, Rashad Nabiyev, Azerbaijan's Minister of Digital Development and Transport, addressed efforts to decarbonize the global transport sector, focusing on aviation. On his answer to Azernews' correspondent noted that digitalization will drive aviation efficiency.

On aviation-specific measures, Minister Nabiyev stated:

“Well, being specific about aviation, later today we have another roundtable dedicated to the emissions in aviation. And in our country, we have a great sense of how the aviation companies should be dealing with emissions. And Azerbaijan has been very much thinking of how it could do it through bringing the innovation in terms of efficiency. There are a couple of things, I mean basic things we can aim for 2050, but there are basic things which we could do on the ground.”

He elaborated on practical solutions, noting:
“One important thing is that there is clear evidence that taxiing on the ground can save you up to 15% of the emissions by the airline company. That actually comes from the training of your pilots. That's the first thing on our side. So we have come to this conclusion and we have a target of sharing this with all the member countries who are going to take participation in this roundtable.”

Minister Nabiyev also emphasized the importance of efficient fuels and corporate social responsibility in tackling emissions:
“It’s not a secret that people are talking about efficient fuel and we are very much committed to adopting it in the years to come. The third is that there is definitely corporate social responsibility on the side of the companies who are going to share the revenues that they have through many, many mechanisms. And we do have an idea how it can take place. But that actually can be one-sided on one airline or two airlines, regional airlines. That should be adopted by many, many others.”

He stressed the role of digitalization in driving efficiency:

“We do believe, strongly believe that digitalization of all our activities can bring a great sense of efficiency to our operations. And that's another thing that we have actually attracted the Boston Consulting Group as an advisor to us on all of these four dimensions. And we do have a clear sense of how it can take place. And we do have a holistic approach to this and we are very much happy to share.”

Minister Nabiyev concluded by praising COP29 as a platform for international cooperation:
“We do believe that the COP is a great platform to get knowing what every country does in isolation and share the knowledge.”

His remarks reflect Azerbaijan’s proactive approach and commitment to fostering global solutions for decarbonization in transport.