Talks take place in Azerbaijan amid an escalating crackdown on dissent.
Between 40,000 and 50,000 delegates are expected to attend COP29. This will include government representatives from all UN member states, as well as the State of Palestine, the Holy See, Niue, the Cook Islands, and the European Union. All of these are parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and most have also joined the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. COP29 will also host diplomats, UN officials, journalists, climate scientists, trade union leaders, and policy experts. NGOs, activists, and Indigenous leaders are also planning to participate – although the involvement of independent media workers and human rights defenders from Azerbaijan itself has been curbed by an ongoing government crackdown.
Like previous climate summits, COP29 will host many participants whose agendas are seriously at odds with climate justice. Thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists, along with the heads of oil giants like Shell and BP, are expected to be in attendance. These participants have used previous summits to advance their own interests, opposing essential efforts to phase out fossil fuels and pushing for false solutions like carbon offsetting. Amnesty International is calling for a robust conflict of interest policy to prevent fossil fuel lobbyists undermining the aims of global climate treaties.
- What is Amnesty calling for at COP29?
- Human rights must be at the heart of all climate action decision-making;
- States in a position to do so must massively scale up climate finance and funding for loss and damage; All states must commit to fully phasing out fossil fuels, in a way that is fast and fair;
- COP29 participants must not chase risky technologies, like carbon capture and storage and removals, or push gas as a “transition fuel”, as a means of distracting from the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels;
- The UNFCCC Secretariat, the government of Azerbaijan, and other governments must protect civic space, and guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
