Azerbaijan made ambitious commitment to reduce emissions – deputy minister

Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Umayra Taghiyeva has said that the government of  Azerbaijan has made an ambitious commitment - planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere by 40 per cent.

Responding to questions from Report at the World Climate Action Summit organized on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP28 in Dubai, Taghiyeva said: "The conversation now is about all countries making more ambitious commitments to reduce emissions. And the other issue is adaptation. We have to adapt to the new climate," she noted.

According to her, abnormal weather phenomena are becoming more frequent at the moment.

"Sometimes these phenomena are not typical for some regions. They are observed out of season. They are also uncharacteristic in their intensity. Completely unusual processes are taking place. That is, indeed, the climate has already changed...What can be done here? There are two ways. Scientists believe that it is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. And by 2030 global emissions should be reduced by more than 40 per cent. There are different estimates from 42 per cent to 47 per cent. And only in this case it will be possible to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees," Taghiyeva added.

She underlined that according to climate scenarios developed by scientists of the world if the temperature rises by more than 1.5 degrees, there will be significant changes in the climate.

The deputy minister noted that Azerbaijan is the regional leader in greening.

"Azerbaijan's share in global emissions is very small. This indicator is only 0.15 per cent," Taghiyeva underlined.

She noted that Azerbaijan plans to create a carbon-neutral zone on the liberated territories.

"In the world practice, implementation of greening activities is of great importance to reduce the impact on climate change. Azerbaijan is the leader of the region in greening," she added.