BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.10. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) will include the climate mitigation and adaptation financing priorities in the Country Strategy for Azerbaijan, BSTDB President Serhat Köksal said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Azerbaijan ratified the Paris Agreement and its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) specifically outlines the country’s emission reduction target, the national socio-economic climate priorities, the most vulnerable sectors, what mitigation and adaptation actions are necessary to meet said target, and what financing is required in this respect. BSTDB will consult the country’s most updated NDC and include the climate mitigation and adaptation financing priorities in the Country Strategy for Azerbaijan,” he said.
Köksal believes that this way the Bank will better align its own financing priorities, as stated in the BSTDB Climate Change Strategy, with the priorities of Azerbaijan, thus supporting the country in meeting its climate mitigation and adaptation commitments.
“At the operations level it means that BSTDB will support emission reduction investments such as renewables, energy and resource efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, green buildings, and electric transport systems, just to name a few. At the same time BSTDB will support climate adaptation projects especially in the vulnerable sectors such as construction and real estate, coastal infrastructure, agribusiness, mining, water-intensive sectors and utilities,” the BSTDB president explained.
Azerbaijan has committed to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 35 percent by 2030 under the Paris Agreement. To this end, the country has launched major projects in the sphere of renewable energy and aims to create a green zone in its liberated territories.
In the coming years, the electricity production will be driven by renewable energy sources. Azerbaijan has more than 26 gigawatts of wind and solar energy onshore and 157 gigawatts of wind energy in the Caspian Sea. The potential of wind, solar and hydropower exceeds 10 gigawatts in Karabakh and Zangezur. Azerbaijan has laid the foundations of wind and solar plants involving foreign investors in January and March 2022 in order to fulfil the task of increasing the share of renewable energy in the installed capacity of electricity to 24 percent in 2026 and 30 percent in 2030.
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