COP29 President addresses COP30-IEA High-Level Energy Transition Dialogue conference in Brussels

A delegation led by Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, the Representative of the President of Azerbaijan for Climate Issues, is attending the COP30-IEA (International Energy Agency) High-Level Energy Dialogue conference in Brussels, Belgium.

Addressing the conference, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev highlighted the importance of ensuring a fair and equitable energy transition, fulfilling climate finance commitments, and strengthening Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Highlighting the key outcomes of the COP29 conference hosted in Baku last year, Mukhtar Babayev said: “We delivered many important energy outcomes in Baku. In the negotiations, the Mitigation Work Programme had been hitting roadblocks. But we were determined, and we managed to find a way forward. This noted the programme’s important work on cities, buildings and urban systems. And in Baku we now look forward to hosting the World Urban Forum in 2026 to develop this work further.”

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev also touched upon the COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge. “Next, we used COP presidency pledges to set clear targets and priorities. These provide benchmarks to measure progress. They send strong market signals. And they foster a sense of shared responsibility.

We launched the COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge. This set a global target to increase energy storage capacity to one thousand five hundred gigawatts by 2030 and add or refurbish over eighty million kilometers of grids by 2040. We then announced the COP29 Green Energy Zones and Corridors Pledge to develop the enabling conditions for renewable energy hubs and transmission lines. Finally, we issued the COP29 Hydrogen Declaration to keep attention on the need to agree the principles for the clean hydrogen market. Over 60 countries endorsed these pledges and declarations,” he mentioned.

“Finance is clearly essential to implementing our energy goals. And the 300-billion-dollar Baku Finance Goal was an historic outcome. The COP29 Presidency is now working to hold countries to the promises they made in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, some donors are cutting aid programmes and their support for climate action. And we can feel much anxiety amongst frontline communities. They wonder whether support really is coming,” Mukhtar Babayev noted.

“Concessional and grant-based finance is critical. Because we cannot deliver the energy transition without a financial system that supports clean development pathways. That is why we are drawing the Baku-to-Belem roadmap to 1.3 trillion dollars with our Brazilian colleagues. We will hold official consultations in Bonn next week. And we need to pull more stakeholders into the process.

So we are calling on all colleagues to take responsibility for bringing their finance ministers, bankers, and companies to the table. We need a more flexible and supportive financial system. As the COP29 Presidency, we will consider how this can be addressed in the Baku-to-Belem roadmap,” the COP29 President concluded.