At COP29, climate progress takes one step forward, two steps back
Baku Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan has served as a temporary Thunderdome for the United Nations’ COP29 climate conference. Some 20,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries gathered for small confabs by the concession stands, while all-hands meetings were staged on a football pitch tricked out with wooden floors and waterproof tents.
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Outside the stadium, battery-powered cars and buses emblazoned with the COP29 logo ferried delegates through city streets largely free from traffic. Recycling bins abounded, and some hotels swapped plastic key cards for cardboard, citing sustainability.
But little was as it seemed on the surface — and not just because the Baku Olympic Stadium has never hosted the Olympics.
More than a third of Azerbaijan’s gross domestic product comes from fossil fuels, and about 90% of its exports are linked to oil and gas. Ahead of COP29, President Ilham Aliyev — whose family has ruled the country for more than 30 years — stripped Baku of any signs of inequity: removing beggars, street vendors and “slave markets” where men search for informal jobs. To ensure light traffic, schools, universities and government offices were closed. To minimize protest, climate activism was heavily restricted.
In Azerbaijan itself, climate change is giving rise to increased flooding and extreme heat. But Baku remains littered with pumpjacks for oil, colored red and green to match the nation’s flag. A few
