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Azerbaijan Names State Oil Company Veteran as COP 29 President

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev, has been named as president-designate of the UNFCCC COP29 climate conference.

Babayev previously headed Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, before being appointed minister in 2018.

He will be the second consecutive oil executive to head a COP conference, after United Arab Emirate’s Sultan Al-Jaber, the head of state oil company ADNOC chaired the conference last year.

Environmentalists saw Sultan Al-Jaber as a “ridiculous” choice for the COP presidency, pointing to him having a clear conflict of interest as someone who ran the UAE’s national oil company.

However, he ultimately oversaw a breakthrough global agreement at the summit to transition away from fossil fuels, converting some skeptics into fans.

Baku’s presidency over the next COP conference was the result of “fraught negotiations” The Guardian reported.

The decision has garnered criticism from some environmentalists, who worry about the presidency being granted to another oil and gas-reliant nation.

“The world will need more action to phase out fossil fuels at COP29 and, as a major oil producer, Azerbaijan will need to listen to its critics,” one advocate said.

 

By Dare Akogun

Dare Akogun

Dare Akogun is a dynamic media innovator, strategic communication professional, and seasoned climate and environmental sustainability journalist with over 10 years of influential contributions to the media industry.

He Currently serving as the Head of Digital Media, Senior News Editor, and a presenter at Sobi FM 101.9, a leading radio station in Ilorin, Nigeria.

Dare is on a mission to leverage his media innovation expertise and project management skills to produce high-quality, accurate, and engaging content, while advocating for reduced fossil fuel consumption, especially coal, to combat effect of global warming.

He has covered comprehensively environmental issues and COP conferences, including COP28 in Dubai last year , COP 27 in Egypt, and the United Nations Least Developed Countries conference in Doha, in 2023.

He is a recipient of fellowship to be part of a 15 team of journalists selected worldwide to cover the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2024.

He has a Master's Degree in Mass Communication, from the University of Lagos, a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from the Lagos State University and also a
Certification in Business Administration and Management, from the Babson College, Massachusetts, United States of America.

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