BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 16. The transition to an economically sustainable, clean, and healthy future ranks among the critical challenges and is a huge social responsibility, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Vugar Karimov said at the presentation of the "Third Environmental Performance Review (EPR) of Azerbaijan," prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, within COP29 today, Trend reports.
The official highlighted that as a reliable and responsible member of the international community, Azerbaijan attaches great importance to addressing global environmental issues, actively working in this direction.
"Our country has joined more than 20 environmental conventions and agreements by actively participating in solving global environmental problems.
The environmental protection's primary mission is to preserve ecosystems, minimize harmful impacts on the environment, and ensure sustainable development through the rational use of natural resources, with the goal of providing people with a clean and healthy living environment," he explained.
The deputy minister mentioned that important decisions regarding the greening of the region's economy, made by the country's leadership in the restoration of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, are creating opportunities for mitigating the impacts of climate change.
"Environmental protection is a priority in the large-scale restoration and reconstruction process taking place in these areas. Innovative approaches, such as 'smart city' and 'smart village' concepts, are being implemented, and ecosystems are being restored.
As part of the green growth concept, policies are being implemented to transform the liberated territories into green energy zones and achieve carbon neutrality in these areas.
In recent decades, natural disasters and extreme events have become more frequent due to the consequences of climate change. To strengthen preparedness for hazardous hydrometeorological phenomena and improve forecasting and early warning systems, work on modernizing the hydrometeorological observation network continues successfully as part of state investments," he also said.
Karimov added that by 2027, the share of renewable energy sources in the country's total energy balance is planned to reach 33 percent, up from the current 17 percent.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will run until November 22, opened at the Baku Olympic Stadium on November 11. It is the largest event organized by Azerbaijan to date, and the first time in the region that it is being held in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action – was held on November 12–13.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 chairmanship has launched 14 initiatives that include linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, harmony for climate resilience, clean hydrogen, methane reduction in organic waste, action on green digital technologies, and other topics.
In addition to being a top priority that creates the conditions for action, creating climate finance will also help fulfill the 1.5°C pledge by bringing everyone together.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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