Letter from Azerbaijan: COP half-full, or COP half-empty?

The agreement by the parties to raise at least $300b/yr for developing countries by 2035 was derided as a betrayal by the Global South, but the UN urged pragmatism

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, seems the right place to hold an energy summit. Ranks of nodding donkey rigs by the side of the roads, the smell of hydrocarbons in the air and the ubiquitous logo—in national colours—of state-owned oil firm SOCAR all stand testimony to the country’s long and fruitful association with the oil industry, going back to the first ever machine-drilled well in 1846. But is it the right place to stage a climate change conference, as it did with the UN’s COP29 extravaganza? That depends on whether you believe fossil fuels are the root of all environmental evil and must be removed from the global fuel mix immediately, or whether hydrocarbons will have an essential rol