"Green" priorities of Baku and Berlin Caliber.Az review

The negative processes caused by global climate change affect most of the world's countries to a greater or lesser extent, and today UN-coordinated efforts are aimed at minimising the consequences of these risks. Azerbaijan is also facing this negative situation, where measures are being taken to solve the most complex water problems, the development of "green" energy has been accelerated, and in November 2024 Baku will host the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29). Our country's consistent position on the environmental agenda was voiced the day before by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who took part in the 15th Petersberg Climate Dialogue High Level Segment in Germany.

Since 2010, the Petersberg Climate Dialogue (named after the first venue in Bonn) has been the most important platform for annual meetings of the world's nations to discuss the current climate agenda of the United Nations. On April 26, representatives of some four dozen countries gathered in Berlin for another dialogue on climate change-related activities in preparation for the next UN Climate Change Conference COP29, to be held in Baku in November.

“We are honoured to be unanimously chosen as the host country of COP29, this is a testament to the confidence of the international community in Azerbaijan, including recognition of the work we are doing in the field of green energy,” said President Ilham Aliyev, who was invited German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took part in the most important forum - the 15th Petersberg Climate Dialogue. — Our green agenda was being implemented even before COP29; together with our foreign partners, we launched large-scale projects as part of the ‘green’ transition. The current year has been declared in Azerbaijan as the ‘Year of Solidarity for a Green World’, and the total capacity of wind and solar energy projects that will be launched in the country only in 2024 will be 1,300 MW.”

It is pertinent to recall here that, in parallel with the increase in the extraction of fossil resources, in recent years Azerbaijan has accelerated the development of the renewable energy sector (RES) and has also committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent by 2030 and 40 per cent by 2050. Along with the voluntary reduction of methane emissions, our country has set a goal of increasing the share of RES in the country's installed energy capacity to 30 per cent by 2030. To this end, a "green" energy zone is being formed in the Karabakh region, "smart" towns and villages with RES elements are being built, a dozen and a half small HPPs have been reconstructed and built from scratch, and new solar and wind power plants will be put into operation in the near future.

Similar projects are also being implemented in the Absheron Peninsula and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and preparations have also begun for the Black Sea Energy project, which envisages the laying of an underwater electric cable with a capacity of 1,000 MW under the Black Sea to supply RES-generated electricity from Azerbaijan to Europe. The next step will be to attract foreign investment to develop the potential of wind energy in the Caspian Sea, production of "green" hydrogen, etc.

"Our projects in the field of green energy are financed by foreign investors, we only provide the relevant infrastructure and create the most favourable climate for these investments," President Ilham Aliyev noted, also stressing that countries rich in natural resources - gas and oil - should lead the fight against climate change, and these various platforms promote the spirit of solidarity, contributing to the achievement of climate goals through common efforts. Among other things, COP29 will play an important role in this, as an international platform to engage countries of the Global South in the global climate agenda. Noting that Azerbaijan has signed declarations of strategic partnership with nine EU members, the Head of State also recalled the signing of a partnership agreement with the EU in 2022 in the energy sector and the increasing year by year supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

“I am glad that this year COP29 will be held in Azerbaijan, and you can be sure of Germany’s support during this event. Azerbaijan has made an important climate commitment, and in this regard, together with the COP chairs from the UAE, Azerbaijan and Brazil, we will work on a bridge leading from Dubai, Berlin to Baku,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a meeting held a day earlier briefing with the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan, COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev. It is noteworthy that the German government, which supports Azerbaijan’s efforts to ensure the energy security of the European Union, as well as welcoming our country’s principled position on the UN climate agenda, is also ready to fully expand cooperation in other areas of the economy. During a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Ilham Aliyev thanked Germany for supporting Azerbaijan in preparation for the 29th session of the UN Conference.

"German-Azerbaijani relations have been experiencing a period of rapid development recently, and the bilateral agenda is quite extensive. The development of these relations is of great importance both for our countries and for the development and stability in the South Caucasus as a whole," the head of state noted, recalling the meetings with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in March last year in Berlin and two months ago in Munich.

In this context, it is noteworthy that Azerbaijan traditionally attaches great importance to the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation with Germany, whose nominal GDP last year exceeded $4.46 trillion and which is the "locomotive" of the European economy. The Azerbaijani-German business partnership is based on an extensive legal framework: in particular, more than eighty documents have been signed between the two countries, and about 200 German companies are registered in our country, with about 170 of them being members of the Azerbaijani-German Chamber of Commerce.

German companies are actively involved in various contracting projects in industry, construction materials, agro-industry, electricity, telecommunications, RES and digitalisation projects, modernisation of ports, railways and other transport infrastructure, etc. The scale of trade ties is no less impressive: Azerbaijan accounts for 70 per cent of Germany's total trade turnover with the countries of the South Caucasus. And despite the global crises and recession, trade is developing dynamically: in particular, in 2022, mutual trade turnover totalled $1.3 billion, and in 2023, having increased by 45.4 per cent, it reached $1.8 billion.

The basis of Azerbaijani exports is traditionally oil supplies, and Germany is among the top 10 main buyers of this raw material. And since the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor, German gas trader Uniper SE has been the largest buyer of Azerbaijani gas in the Southern European region. However, despite the fact that the lion's share of Azerbaijani exports is energy raw materials, in recent years domestic business has been increasing supplies of wine products, juices, fresh and tinned fruit and vegetables, and hazelnuts to the German market. Supplies of petrochemicals, non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy products are being established, and tourism products and transport transit services along the Middle Corridor are being promoted.