Dubai, Sharm el Sheikh and Baku: does it make a difference if a summit is held in an oil-producing country?

The UN climate summit that kicked off on Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan, (COP29) is facing scepticism similar to that raised by the climate negotiations at COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) and COP28 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), also fossil fuel exporting powerhouses. Some criticism lies in the fact that COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev held a senior position at the state-owned oil company SOCAR; a rejection very similar to that generated by the president of COP28 in Dubai, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, for being at the head of the fourth largest oil company in the world. Azerbaijan exported 26.6 Mt of crude oil in 2022, according to data from the International Energy Agency, and 22.6 bcm of natural gas. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for its part, is the seventh largest producer of crude oil in the world, according to the same source, while Egypt is also a main exporter of fossil fuels, both gas and oil and derivatives. But the fact that a climate summit is held in an oil-producing country does not necessarily mean that the negotiations are doomed to failure, according to several environmentalists and specialists consulted.

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