COP29 to be preceded by Baku’s first Climate Action Week

Azerbaijan’s capital Baku will hold its first Climate Action Week from September 30 to October 4 as it prepares to host the COP29 conference.

The event will work in partnership with London Climate Action Week (held in the last week of June this year) and follow a similar format: a range of high-level international conferences and local community events.

Azerbaijan sparked controversy in January this year when it named Mukhtar Babayev, its current Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources and long-term oil company executive, as president-designate of COP29.

Deepening the national conversation on climate change

The organisers of the UN Climate Change Conference say the Baku Climate Action Week is “another important milestone in the deepening national conversation to accelerate action on climate change in Azerbaijan”. 

The event aims to serve as an educational and inspirational platform, engaging political and business leaders as well as local communities and young people to address Azerbaijan’s climate challenges.

Main topics covered will include the energy transition, cities and built environment, water security, food and agriculture, SMEs and green skills – with a full schedule soon to be available on the event’s website.

COP29 High-Level Champion Nigar Arpadarai said: “Azerbaijan is honoured to host COP29 in November and the Presidency is sparing no effort to make it a success, so we can enhance ambition and enable action on climate change. We know that cities and the private sector have a key role to play in driving climate solutions and supporting international diplomacy. This is why I, as COP29 High-Level Champion, and the COP29 Presidency are proud to host the inaugural Baku Climate Action Week.”

COP29: The ‘finance COP’

COP29 will take place in Baku from November 11 to 22, and is expected to explore creative solutions to unlock finance for the climate transition (as such, it has been dubbed ‘the finance COP’). 

This should include stronger private sector involvement, according to a recent post by World Economic Forum climate experts: “At the moment, many climate finance schemes have been devised by making assumptions about the behaviour of private capital, some of which have not held. The private sector is best placed to lay out the prerequisites for private finance to flow, so its input should be solicited quickly and systematically,” they wrote this week.

In addition, many expect COP29 to finally clarify the rules of carbon trading under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement – after COP28 failed to deliver on this aspect.

Commenting on the launch of the Baku Climate Action Week, COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev said: “Azerbaijan hopes to lead by example, and COP29’s vision of enhancing ambition and enabling action needs everyone, from both developed and developing countries, to play their part.”