IEA executive director meets with the president of Azerbaijan and leading ministers in Baku – News

In a separate meeting, Dr Birol and Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov discussed the country’s clean energy ambitions and plans to improve regional integration and cooperation on renewable energy under the Green Energy Corridor initiative.

Dr. Birol then met with COP29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev to discuss how Azerbaijan and the IEA can work together to ensure a successful outcome of the climate conference. To build momentum, the IEA and Azerbaijan have agreed to co-host a major event aimed at accelerating implementation of the growing number of commitments to reduce methane emissions from fossil fuels – a key step in maintaining the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5° C within range.

The two-day signing event will take place in Baku in September and will bring together high-level participants from governments, international organizations and the private sector to discuss the need to move from methane commitments to action, as well as key methane strategies to accelerate progress ahead of COP29.

The IEA and COP29 are already working, in cooperation with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, on a series of high-level dialogues on the energy transition with the aim of reaching consensus ahead of the Climate Change Conference in Baku in November. The first high-level dialogue took place last month at the IEA headquarters in Paris, and the second will take place on June 24 in London. During this week’s meeting, Dr. Birol and Minister Babayev reviewed plans for upcoming dialogues.

In Baku, Dr. Birol also met with the Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and Rovshan Najaf, President of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). Their broad discussion covered topics such as the prospects for international energy markets, including oil and natural gas trends, as well as issues related to climate financing in the context of COP29.