Is the world ready to give up fossil fuels? The question is posed to Folha by Mukhtar Babayev, president of COP29, the UN (United Nations) climate conference to be held this year in Azerbaijan—one of the world's most important producers of oil and gas. The event's main goal is to formulate a new target for financing climate actions, but it also lives under an expectation: whether advances will be made regarding the historic agreement reached in December 2023.

At the last COP in Dubai, for the first time, the document with the final resolutions explicitly mentioned fossil fuels. Countries committed to building energy systems that move away from these polluting sources—or, as the text says, a "transition towards the end of fossil fuels." He argues that his country has already begun its transition, focusing on investment in green energy.

The COP in Baku, which precedes the edition Brazil is set to host in Belém in 2025, is taking place in a year surrounded by electoral tensions, especially with the possibility of Donald Trump winning the U.S. elections. "Elections have an influence on this process, but countries have already understood that it is time to advance with climate action," he says. Since being announced as president of the conference, he has been questioned for having held positions in the oil industry—he is now the country's Minister of Ecology—and for the COP initially not appointing any women to its leadership.

Recently, the NGO Humans Right Watch criticized the Azerbaijani regime under President Ilham Aliyev for the imprisonment of journalists and activists. In this context, the main mission of the COP in Baku is a new financing target, as the commitment agreed in 2009—$100 billion per year for developing countries—was met with delays by developed nations and is far short of the necessary resources.

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