October 2024

...The European Commission recently signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to double the country’s gas exports to the EU by 2027, turning a blind eye to its corruption and abysmal human rights record.

Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, produced nearly 174 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in 2023 and spent at least 97 percent of its Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) on oil and gas. According to Rystad Energy, SOCAR’s CAPEX for exploration alone – the search for new sources of oil and gas – was almost $300 million between 2022-2024 on top of exploiting existing reserves. This underscores an alarming conflict of interest. SOCAR is a deeply political organization and the Azerbaijani President’s ties to the company are a major cause for concern.

Research by the Banking on Climate Chaos Coalition shows that SOCAR has received over $6.8 billion in loans and underwriting from financial institutions between 2021 and 2023. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup top the list, providing $1.8 billion and $1 billion respectively, while Japanese banks like Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars.

SOCAR’s newly founded subsidiary SOCAR Green is supposed to invest in wind, solar, green hydrogen and CCS. But instead of indicating a transition away from fossil fuels, whatever projects might be realized will mainly serve the purpose to free gas resources for export...

The Azerbaijani government’s attempt to hide its cronyism and human rights record behind a global climate summit has been blasted as blatant greenwashing. The COP climate summits represent the only opportunity for world leaders to come to an agreement on solutions to tackle climate change. It is crucial that those who host the negotiations are true climate leaders, not those with a vested interest in keeping the world hooked on fossil fuels.