Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations COP29 Climate Change Conference Elnur Soltanov has been recorded by Global Witness apparently agreeing to help facilitate fossil fuel industry deals at the summit, reported The Guardian.
By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
A member of the campaign organization posed as a fake oil and gas representative offering to sponsor the event in exchange for assistance with the deals.
“COP29 officials abused their positions by facilitating talks about oil and gas deals at a climate conference, pitching a dystopian future which includes fossil fuels ‘perhaps forever,’” a spokesperson for Global Witness said in a press release. “Petrostates are perfecting a sinister playbook which sees COP as just another business opportunity for polluters.”
Officials of COP29 — which begins next week in Baku, Azerbaijan — provided an introduction for the phony investor to a senior executive of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to discuss potential investments.
Soltanov, who is also Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister, promised “to create a contact between yourself and [SOCAR]… so that they can start discussions.”
Soltanov suggested that Global Witness’ fake investment group EC Capital “incorporate your activities with SOCAR’s activity during COP, so that you can… talk business to them and also participate in the COP29 process.”
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) expects officials to act “without self-interest” and said they should not use their official roles “to seek private gain,” The Guardian reported.
Global Witness recorded Soltanov telling the imposter oil and gas group that SOCAR was “trading oil and gas, all over the world, including in Asia,” the press release said.
Soltanov said natural gas is a “transitional fuel,” and that “we will have a certain amount of oil and natural gas being produced, perhaps forever.”
During last year’s climate summit, countries agreed to transition away from climate wrecking fossil fuels. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made it clear that new oil and gas development is incompatible with the world’s climate targets as established in the 2016 Paris Agreement.
It also appeared that the COP29 team was willing to waive the fake company’s climate requirements if it sponsored the talks.
Event sponsors of COP29 are expected to commit to reducing their emissions, as well as sign a “national pledge” that promises to devise a “credible net zero plan” during the next two years, reported The Guardian.
The requirements were waived during the recorded negotiations, with the COP29 team agreeing to a new clause that would give imposter EC Capital “meeting opportunities with key local stakeholders from the energy sector at COP29.”
After Global Witness’ video call with Soltanov, EC Capital was introduced to Vice President of SOCAR Elshad Nassirov, who expressed interest in meeting with them in Baku.
“The UNFCCC urgently needs to act to clean up the [COP] climate talks, starting by banning the fossil fuel industry from sponsoring them, and kicking their lobbyists out for good. We’ve had 29 talks with an ever-growing crowd of polluters and snake-oil salesmen present. Let’s try the next one without,” a spokesperson for Global Witness said in the press release.
Cristen is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She holds a JD and an Ocean & Coastal Law Certificate from University of Oregon School of Law and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of the short story collection The Smallest of Entryways, as well as the travel biography, Ernest’s Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway’s Life.