Azerbaijan attaches special importance to environmental protection and the elimination of the consequences of climate change. The country is undertaking a great deal of work in this direction. The unanimous adoption of the decision to hold the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, widely regarded as one of the largest and most prestigious events in the world, in Azerbaijan is a vivid example of that. As emphasized by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, this is an indicator of the international community’s enormous respect and trust in our country.

At a meeting chaired by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on 15 December 2023, President Ilham Aliyev issued instructions for the immediate commencement of preparations for holding COP29 in the country.

By a decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated 7 January 2024, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mukhtar Babayev, was appointed the COP29 President-Designate.

By another decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated 13 January 2024, an Organizing Committee was established in connection with the holding of COP29. The composition of the Organizing Committee was further expanded by decrees dated 19 January 2024 and 22 February 2024.

President Ilham Aliyev defined the architecture of the COP29 Presidency in his speeches at the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, the Sixth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus event, the Informal Summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Shusha, the Second Shusha Global Media Forum, the International Cernobbio Forum, and other important events, as well as in his interviews.

President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that developed and developing countries should contribute to addressing climate problems within their capabilities rather than blame each other for climate change. “We must also be fair to countries rich in oil and natural gas resources. It is not the fault of these countries that they have oil and gas,” the head of state said.

With the slogan “In solidarity for a green world!”, Azerbaijan has demonstrated exemplary leadership in the all-important global issue of the fight against climate change under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and called on all states to bolster solidarity for a green, inclusive, and sustainable world.

In preparation for COP29, an Action Plan was adopted, and work was carried out by state agencies to ensure its implementation.

The COP29 Organizing Committee, led by Samir Nuriyev, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee and Head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan, held regular meetings to enhance the efficiency of preparations for the event, discuss issues on the agenda, and work towards the implementation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan's instructions. The inclusive nature of the Organizing Committee, as well as the active participation of parliament members, women, and civil society activists, made a great contribution to its work.

The Government of Azerbaijan worked closely with the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Regarding issues related to the holding of COP29 in Baku, the “Host Country Agreement” and other important documents were signed.

Following the decision to award COP29 to Azerbaijan, various countries, international organizations, and other external partners expressed a desire to establish a close partnership with Azerbaijan in this area. Cooperation was established with relevant international partners.

In order to support Azerbaijan’s Presidency of COP29, a COP29 International Advisory Committee consisting of a number of prominent individuals was established.

In an effort to achieve successful results at COP29, the COP29 Presidency team conducted a constructive dialogue with all Parties, listened to different opinions, took into account various priorities, and gained trust. A number of important international events were organized in Baku by the COP29 Presidency to advance climate negotiations. These events included the informal Shamakhi meeting, the Baku Climate Week, and the Pre-COP29 event.

In his address to the Pre-COP29 event, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan emphasized the importance of reaching an agreement on a new climate finance target at COP29 and expressed his confidence that if such a consensus was reached, it would go down in history as a common achievement of the international community.

The Baku Olympic Stadium was readied for the conference in a remarkably short period of time, with extensive efforts undertaken to ensure the necessary conditions for the participation of all attendees, including world leaders.

The COP29 conference, held at the Baku Olympic Stadium on 11–22 November 2024 with tremendous success, was the largest event Azerbaijan has organized to date. A total of 76,000 participants registered for the conference.

At the opening ceremony of the COP29 Leaders Summit on 12 November, which was attended by more than 80 heads of state and government, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that, as a country where North and South, West and East converge, Azerbaijan is capable of building political, cultural, energy, trade, and transport bridges between various international actors.

The head of state highlighted Azerbaijan's significant achievements under its Green Agenda and emphasized the country's role as a strong advocate for the green transition during its COP29 Presidency.

President Ilham Aliyev also exposed the failed, flimsy attempts of those who orchestrated a slander and smear campaign against Azerbaijan, emphasizing that the whole world had gathered in Baku, once again demonstrating Azerbaijan's influence and power on a global scale.

On 13 November, the Small Islands Developing States Summit was held on the sidelines of COP29. Speaking at the summit, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan expressed Azerbaijan’s unequivocal support for the small island states and stressed that this support would be continued in the future. Talking about neocolonialism and climate change, the head of state expressed solidarity with the communities most severely affected by climate change and whose voices are silenced as “overseas territories” of France and the Netherlands.

The Baku COP will be remembered for its historic success and important decisions on a number of issues awaiting resolution. Azerbaijan has managed to leave behind a legacy, as decisions on 52 issues were adopted during COP29.

The most important milestone of the conference was the achievement of consensus on the main expectation of developing countries from COP29 -the “New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance.” The decision called for increasing climate finance for developing countries from all public and private sources to $1.3 trillion per year until 2035. In addition, at least $300 billion of climate finance was agreed by developed countries to developing countries for climate action until 2035. This figure is three times higher than the $100 billion climate finance goal set in 2009.

Another success of COP29 is the full operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on international carbon markets. It is worth emphasizing that this issue had remained unresolved for 10 years.

Another historic event is the adoption of a decision to fully operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund, which developing countries, including small island, least-developed, and African states, had been eagerly awaiting. This aligns with President Ilham Aliyev’s determination to address the problems of small island states, which are worst affected by the negative impacts of climate change, as a priority for the COP29 Presidency.

Other decisions include the adoption of the Baku Adaptation Roadmap, the agreement to hold the Baku High-Level Dialogue on Adaptation at future COPs on an annual basis, the launch of the Technology Implementation Program, the approval of the Baku Workplan of the Platform on Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples for 2025–2027, and other important issues.

The above-mentioned important decisions of COP29 were officially branded by the UN as the Baku Climate Unity Pact (BAKU PACT).

In addition, 14 global initiatives covering the link between climate action and sustainable development goals were announced within the framework of the COP29 Presidency Action Agenda and gained broad support. One of these initiatives, the call for a “COP Ceasefire,” was supported by more than 130 countries.

Other initiatives include the COP29 Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment, and Trade, the Baku Initiative on Human Development for Climate Resilience, the Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, the COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action, the COP29 Declaration on Multisectoral Actions Pathways (MAP) to Resilient and Healthy Cities, the COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action and Baku Dialogue.

Based on the designated thematic days of COP29, the COP29 Presidency hosted more than 100 events co-organized by relevant government agencies of Azerbaijan and more than 250 foreign partners.

In addition, 35 high-level events were held within the framework of the Leaders Summit, and a additional 35 events were held in connection with the COP29 Presidency's Action Agenda.

Representatives of 196 states, more than 150 intergovernmental organizations and UN agencies, as well as up to 2,000 NGOs, participated in the mentioned events.

As emphasized by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, our country spared no effort during COP29 to build bridges between developed and developing countries, achieve consensus, and turn COP29 into a success story.

After the end of COP29, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev shared a post on his official “X” account emphasizing that COP29 would go down in history as one of the most remarkable COPs. In the post, the head of state said, “I evaluate the Baku achievement as a triumph of multilateralism. COP29 is a turning point in climate diplomacy, and I believe that this legacy will have a positive impact on future global climate action.”

Azerbaijan has once again demonstrated its leadership and capacity to organize large-scale events at a high level, successfully mobilizing countries of the world towards the adoption of important decisions on global climate change. The unanimous adoption of a resolution at the end of COP29 expressing gratitude to Azerbaijan for the excellent organization of the conference is a clear indication of this.

The progress of COP29, Azerbaijan's priorities, initiatives, and the outcomes of the conference received extensive coverage in leading international media, with numerous articles featuring positive commentary published.

Detailed information about COP29 can be found on www.cop29.az website.