Climate Change

Baku hosts COP29, the most recognized conference on combating climate change. This year’s summit is unfolding as a complex diplomatic game with regional conflicts and human rights issues. How should Armenia position itself, and what makes this year's climate summit important?  

By unpacking key global climate debates and their implications for Georgia, this article highlights the pressing need for a more nuanced public discourse on climate justice, as well as greater accountability from both state and international actors, in Georgia and beyond.

Azerbaijan has strengthened its energy ties with the EU since 2022, ramping up gas deliveries and articulating ambitions to export renewable energy and green hydrogen to Europe in the future. However, the EU’s shrinking gas demand and Azerbaijan’s lack of a genuine decarbonization strategy cast uncertainty on the long-term prospects of this partnership – all the more so given the EU’s persistent criticism of political repression and human rights violations in the South Caucasus republic.

This article examines the critical issue of public participation in environmental governance in Azerbaijan, focusing on the intricate relationship between environmental procedural rights and political repression, particularly in the context of the country hosting COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference.

Environmental protection and climate change have never been top concern for any elections in Georgia while the political establishment has been not-so-Green. 

In May 2024, devastating floods hit Armenia’s northern regions, revealing alarming gaps in climate change adaptation. This article examines the impacts of flooding in the community of Alaverdi, the growing climate risks, and the need for immediate implementation of adaptation measures at the local level. 

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, movements, groups and individuals, highlight the urgent need to address serious human rights concerns in Azerbaijan in the lead-up to its hosting this year’s United Nations Climate Conference (COP29), to be held in Baku from November 11 to 22, 2024.