- cross-posted to:
- nottheonion
- cross-posted to:
- nottheonion
Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s global climate talks, has suggested that continued fossil fuel extraction is compatible with the Paris Agreement.
With four months to go until COP29 kicks off in Baku, the Azerbaijani presidency on Friday announced a flurry of “initiatives” — a set of 14 non-binding pledges and partnerships that countries are encouraged to sign up to at the summit.
At the same press conference, the summit’s chief executive Elnur Soltanov suggested that the Paris climate accord — under which countries agreed to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and ideally to 1.5C — does not necessarily mean reducing fossil fuel production.
To be fair, that’s not what they said. They said reducing emissions is compatible with maintaining fossil fuel extraction, which is technically true. It’s just really disengenuous.
Reducing fossil fuel usage while maintaining production means you’re selling more, which means you’re moving carbon emissions to another country’s balance sheet.
That seems like a pretty big hole in their lifecycle analysis. The ol’ tow it out of the environment strategy.