COP29 aims to reduce oil production against Azerbaijan's plans and with the US largely absent

Sonsoles Martín

16/11/2024

TRANSLATED FROM CADENA SER WEBSITE LINK BELOW

More climate funding and a reduction in the use of fossil fuels are sought.

From Monday 11 November to Friday 22, almost 200 countries are working to reach agreements and try to guarantee the health of the planet. This year, the focus is on money. At the so-called "COP of finance", they are seeking to achieve a new climate financing goal and to get the richest and most developed countries to donate even more to the poorest to reduce the impact of their emissions and to be able to adapt to climate change.

A new aid plan that, if approved, would increase investment from 100 billion to at least 1 trillion dollars annually, and they are seeking to have China, one of the great countries that pollutes the most, join.

The second major objective is to implement the Dubai agreement from last year, at COP28, to abandon fossil fuels. Although there is still a week of negotiations left, everything indicates that this second point will not be fulfilled, at least by some countries, including the host country, Azerbaijan.

On Wednesday, its president Ilham Aliyev came out in defense of the gas industry, describing oil as a "gift from God" like the sun or water, so countries should not be blamed for having it or for bringing it to market because people need it.

The danger of China or the US using oil.

Aliyev recognizes that a green transition is necessary, but that we must be realistic. A speech that, on the other hand, is not surprising, practically half of Azerbaijan's economy depends on fossil fuels, and they have already announced an increase in production. Fernando Prieto, a doctor of ecology and director of the Sustainability Observatory, explains that precisely because of this, it will be very difficult for there to be any kind of significant progress in that state. But, as Prieto tells us, the reality is that the fact that a small country like Azerbaijan with 10 million inhabitants (in Spain we are 48 million) produces oil should not alarm us.

The most important thing is what large countries like China do, which this year is initially taking serious steps towards decarbonization. Although positions such as that of Javier Milei in Argentina, or Donald Trump in the United States, threaten an even greater setback. Both leaders are climate change deniers, and Trump has repeated more than once that global warming is a farce and has promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.

Norway, a country that boasts of being "eco-sustainable" and where the majority of the population has an electric car, also continues to exploit its oil fields. In other words, the key is to stop the largest exporters and the most polluting, although the ideal would be for all the states in the world to stop producing oil, and join together to reduce emissions; in addition to increasing the funding mentioned at the beginning, to help poor countries, the least responsible for global pollution, to reduce the impact and be able to better adapt to the major catastrophes that are expected.

Why would companies stop producing?

The question may arise as to whether oil sells, why would companies stop producing? Prieto explains that the business sector itself is aware that sooner or later there will be a change; in Spain, for example, Cepsa has been renamed Moeve, with the aim of focusing on electric mobility. "The issue is on the street, and the oil industries themselves know that they must move towards renewable energies," Prieto tells us.

Even countries like Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter, already have their own companies to start producing renewables such as solar, the cheapest that exists. The market itself will demand and will lead the economy towards a state of decarbonization.

Today, experts calculate that the temperature will rise 2.7 degrees by 2100, something that states want to avoid; In the open letter on COP reform, more than 195 countries have agreed to strive to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees. That said, there is still much to be done, but more than 1,770 fossil fuel lobbyists have attended COP29, many looking for countries to invest in. At other summits, they have gone incognito, outnumbering the number of vulnerable nations in attendance.

In the end, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres says, the rich cause the problem, and the poor pay the price.