Urgent action needed to safeguard integrity of COP as fossil fuel influence looms large in Baku, report warns

The upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP) 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, is at high risk of being co-opted to promote a pro-fossil fuel industry agenda, according to a new report by Transparency International (TI) and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC).

The report, published today, warns that a lack of robust integrity and anti-corruption measures in the UNFCCC arrangements for COP has opened the door for Azerbaijan’s government to use the summit as diplomatic cover to advance its domestic oil and gas interests and secure new fossil fuel deals. The report finds that not only is the COP 29 President a former executive of SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR appears to be closely involved in the COP, with its president and members of its supervisory board helping organise the conference. The head of SOCAR has already been seen mixing COP and company business while signing new cooperation agreements with international partners.

The report also finds that the conference may provide potentially lucrative business opportunities to companies with links to the country’s first family. Ahead of the summit, evidence of potentially corrupt activity has continued to emerge, according to the report, including revelations by investigative journalists that a multi-million dollar no-bid contract for COP 29 guest accommodation was awarded to a business owned by the former son-in-law of Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan. Several COP 29 corporate sponsors, or “Green Zone Partners,” also have clear or alleged links to the first family of Azerbaijan.

The report also points to an almost US$5m public relations campaign for COP 29 – a fee that rivals the $5.8m Azerbaijan paid to UNFCCC to host the conference – that the COP President has praised for improving Azerbaijan’s image, while the Aliyev regime simultaneously heavily represses independent media and civil society. Azerbaijan's COP 29 organisers have also established an “NGO Coalition,” which includes organisations that the report argues support the propaganda aims of the Aliyev regime. With Azerbaijan’s energy sector heavily dominated by fossil fuels, these tactics mean COP 29 could be abused as a tool for greenwashing, the report argues.

Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective are urging the UNFCCC to take action to safeguard the integrity of COP and prevent hosts of future summits from putting their own agenda before the common good. Recommendations include:

• Strengthening the process for selecting host countries and corporate sponsors of COPs, ensuring future summits take place in environments where human rights, transparency, freedom of expression and commitment to the goals of the conference are guaranteed.
• Robust measures to prevent conflicts of interest among hosts, organisers, sponsors and participants from derailing the critical climate deliberations and outcomes.
• Unrestricted civil society participation and enhanced transparency and accountability rules relating to all COP participants.

Brice Böhmer, Climate and Environment Lead at Transparency International, said:

“It is painfully clear that you cannot make meaningful progress against the climate crisis without tackling climate corruption. From influential fossil fuel lobbyists diluting climate commitments to corrupt networks syphoning climate funds, the integrity of the entire global climate framework is at stake.

“Despite COP now being in its 29th year, there is an unacceptable lack of robust integrity and anti-corruption measures. UNFCCC needs to urgently address the threat posed by corporate interests and fossil fuel industry capture. The integrity standards for COP Presidency need to be the highest possible quality to reestablish trust in the multilateral process.”

“It is imperative that governments who are committed to keeping the 1.5 degrees Celsius target in sight work closely with the UNFCCC Secretariat to strengthen the guardrails around future COPs.”

David Szakonyi, Director of the Anti-Corruption Data Collective, said:

“It is essential that anyone attending this year’s COP, or observing from afar, are wise to the ways that the fossil fuel industry’s interests may be being served. Azerbaijan has been accused of corruption and illicit influence operations in many countries across the world. All too often authoritarian regimes exploit their host status at marquee international events to launder their own reputations, and there are real risks that the same will happen at COP 29 in Azerbaijan. Our report sets out clearly the steps that need to be taken to ensure that COP can be a forum for the ambitious climate action we desperately need.”

Notes to Editors

Read the full report: HERE

Media contact
Transparency International Secretariat, Berlin
Telephone: +49 (0) 30 34 38 20 666
Email: [email protected]

^{Transparency International is a global movement with one vision: a world in which government, business, civil society and the daily lives of people are free of corruption. With more than 100 chapters worldwide and an international secretariat in Berlin, we are leading the fight against corruption to turn this vision into reality. www.transparency.org}

^{The Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC) is a nonprofit group of investigative journalists, data scientists, academics and policy experts working together to expose and prevent the harms to people, planet and politics caused by corporate opacity. www.acdatacollective.org}