PARIS, Oct 31 (AFP): UN climate summits risk "being undermined by undue corporate influence and fossil fuel industry capture", two corruption watchdogs said Thursday as oil-and-gas producer Azerbaijan prepares the next global meeting.
Azerbaijan's hosting of the COP29 talks in November is the second straight year the world's premier climate negotiations have been hosted in a country deeply tied to oil and gas.
Azerbaijan's fossil fuel interests, entrenched levels of graft and "autocratic government" put the UN-led climate process at risk, Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective said in a report.
But these risks were not unique to Azerbaijan, it said, pointing to past and future COP hosts with strong ties to fossil fuels.
"This report finds that in its current form, COP, as the main global forum for setting the climate policy agenda, is at risk of being undermined by undue corporate influence and fossil fuel industry capture," the report said.
"Corruption and kleptocracy, too, threaten the integrity of climate conferences, including the upcoming COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan."
AFP has sought a response from the COP29 president and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic wedged between Russia and Iran, has faced considerable scrutiny over its hosting of COP29.
Last week the European Parliament denounced Azerbaijan's crackdown on critics and said its "ongoing human rights abuses are incompatible" with hosting the summit.
In October, dozens of US lawmakers demanded the release of political prisoners ahead of the climate talks in Azerbaijan, which has been ruled with an iron fist by President Ilham Aliyev since 2003.
Azerbaijan has also been challenged over its willingness to advance a historic global agreement inked at COP28 to transition the world away from fossil fuels.
The Caucasus nation plans to expand production of fossil fuels, and Aliyev has described his nation's gas reserves as a "gift of the Gods".
