Minister: Azerbaijan contributes to safe, just energy transition globally

Azerbaijan - a reliable partner in the production of fossil fuels for many years, now contributes to the safe and just energy transition in the world, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said at the Ministerial Session within the Global Energy Transition (GET) Congress in Milan, Italy, Report informs, citing the ministry.

He said that the socio-economic development strategy of Azerbaijan and the priorities of its national energy policy aimed at maximizing "green growth" are aligned with the goals of the COP.

The minister noted that the plans for this year to lay the foundations of 1300 MW of solar and wind power plants and to auction 100 MW of wind energy projects are being implemented successfully: "With such progress, the Government is going to exceed its target of 30% share of renewables in installed capacity by 2030. The construction and integration of 2 GW of solar-wind power plants with more than $2 billion investment will increase the share of renewable energy in installed capacity to 33% by 2027."

Shahbazov added that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had declared the country's Garabagh, East Zangazur, and Nakhchivan regions as green energy zones. Their development as net-zero areas, creation of the Caspian-Black Sea-Europe and the Azerbaijan-Türkiye-Europe energy corridors for export at the initial stage of more than 5 GW of green electricity and green gases from Azerbaijan, the establishment of Azerbaijan-Central Asia-Europe green energy corridor for the transmission of energy from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan put the country in the forefront of the region in terms of decarbonization and climate action, according to the minister.

"Exemplary initiatives, such as the Green Energy Zones and Corridors, not only guide the Action Agenda of COP29 today but are also more likely to become the COP's legacy. Given that finance is the most important topic in the negotiations track, we believe that this platform will accelerate the tripling of renewable energy, the doubling of energy efficiency and the achievement of a secure energy transition. In this respect, there is a need for new initiatives and targets of increasing investments greatly, to ensure the strengthening of electric grids, scaling up energy storage facilities, and the increase of hydrogen production and energy efficiency in relevant directions, including through HVDC infrastructure. Azerbaijan will exert all efforts to advance the global climate agenda, including just and equitable energy transition and to conclude COP29 with successful results by establishing a sincere and result-oriented dialogue with all parties," the minister said.

During the discussions, Minister Parviz Shahbazov also spoke about the tripartite mechanism consisting of Azerbaijan, the UAE and Brazil, Agreeing on a new collective quantitative target for climate finance for the period after 2025, mutual trust for the effectiveness of multilateral dialogue on climate action, ensuring a fair distribution of responsibility and financial resources.