At COP29, the intention was not simply to add another environmental initiative to an already very broad and intensive agenda, but to emphasize a fundamental idea through the resource efficiency and circularity agenda, Faig Mutallimov, an official at the Azerbaijani Presidential Representative's Office for Climate Affairs, said on the fourth day of Baku Climate Action Week 2026 (BCAW 2026), Report informs.
"Climate action is not only about how we produce energy. It is also about how we use materials, how we design and manufacture products, how long we keep them in use, and what happens to them once their useful life ends. Thus, together with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation, we advanced this agenda, and it was a voluntary initiative. Alongside countries, governments and international organizations, businesses, NGOs and other partners could also join the initiative, and many of them did," Mutallimov noted.
He added that another initiative was aimed at reducing methane emissions from organic waste: "We understand that waste management may be viewed as a local environmental issue. However, it has a significant impact through methane emissions within this system. Therefore, through this initiative, we wanted to take a broader approach to the issue by improving waste management, preventing waste, recycling and taking other practical measures."
The official also pointed out that the achievements and progress made since COP29 can be divided into three areas: "First, the concept of circularity has been more closely linked to the implementation agenda. Previously, we might all have thought that circularity was mainly about waste management. But today, we need to look at circularity through the lens of the entire economic system: how much material, energy and water we use to create economic value, and how much of that value we can retain through reuse, recycling and recovery."
He highlighted that this is an important point toward their goal and the circularity agenda.
"Second, I would like to approach this from the perspective of the national agenda. We are increasingly incorporating this broad direction into our national agenda. Our country's national development priorities already include a clean environment and green growth. This is one of Azerbaijan's five priorities through 2030," Mutallimov said.