TO ALL CLIMATE-CONSCIOUS CIVIL SOCIETY AND THOSE CONCERNED WITH HUMAN RIGHTS: STOP COP29 IN AZERBAIJAN!

We are an international activist collective driven to take action against the irresponsible, harmful, and dangerous decision of the UNFCCC to allow COP29 - the most consequential climate change conference in the world - to be hosted in Azerbaijan: a hugely corrupt petro-state ruled by an extreme authoritarian regime. Azerbaijan is allied with bordering Russia, whose sanctioned oil it sells to the West, military allies with Israel, and guilty of systemic oppression characterized by heavy media censorship, state-sanctioned propaganda, carceral torture, and arbitrary arrests of activists, journalists, religious figures, and political opposition - much of which has been exacerbated as damage control in the lead-up to COP29.

Most pertinently though, Azerbaijan is unapologetic about near-total subsistence on fossil fuels - both internally and through exports. In addition, Western sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil have moved more demand to Azerbaijan, which is now set to increase oil and gas production by a third over the next 10 years to satisfy over $40B in investments from fossil fuel giants like BP, TotalEnergies, and Lukoil.

However, Azerbaijan has been running out of oil. They have already overpromised on contracts and depleted most of their natural resources, so to satisfy demand, the government has been importing sanctioned oil from Russia, refining it, then selling it to the West - which is finally catching on that they're busting sanctions. To this end, Azerbaijan has been invested in obtaining land it can exploit for renewable energy that could replace its internal energy mix, and divert that towards satisfying their fossil fuel contracts. That means investing in Azerbaijan's "Green Energy Zone" actually invests in the propagation of fossil fuels!

COP29 supporting authoritarian petro-states invested in the destruction of the planet is unfortunately, not shocking to any of us. Recall last year’s abysmal failure in UAE, who abused their position as COP28 host to invite nearly 3,000 fossil fuel lobbyists into negotiations, while soliciting over $100B in fossil fuel deals. The fraction of these deals that actually finalized included a $10B investment into Azerbaijan’s notoriously opaque state-run oil and gas company, SOCAR, which is now partially privatizing.

But what's particularly disturbing about COP29 is that Azerbaijan will also be abusing its position as host to legitimize and fund a longstanding, ongoing campaign of genocide against neighboring Armenians. In fact, the very land Azerbaijan is exploiting for investments to develop as their “Green Energy Zone” is Nagorno-Karabakh: ancestral Armenian land that Azerbaijan ethnically cleansed of over 150,000 Indigenous Armenians last year.

Through COP, Azerbaijan is soliciting investments to continue erasing the thousands of years of significant cultural heritage under the guise of green energy. This erasure is central to serving a deep-seated nationalist agenda of state-sanctioned cultural appropriation and expansionism. It wouldn't even be the first time Azerbaijan appropriated environmentalism as a front, considering Azerbaijanis connected to the ruling regime already staged a fake eco-protest to initiate what would become a near ten-month blockade of resources to the Indigenous Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

But that's not the only genocide attendees and the UN will be greenwashing by accepting COP29 in Azerbaijan, which is also mutually enabling Israel to commit genocide. For decades, these nationalist entities have supported one another's colonialist agendas and pushed each another's state-sanctioned fabricated narratives - which is also why Israel still hasn't recognized the Armenian genocide in spite of understanding how critical recognition and reparations are to healing. They also help each other materially: Israel supplies 70% of Azerbaijan's military arsenal including the Pegasus spyware used on Azerbaijani activists and critics of the Aliyev regime, while Azerbaijan supplies 40% of Israel's oil supply through Turkey, which still claims to support Palestine.

Like most genocidal authoritarians, they also replicate similar tactics, like refusing to comply with international law, weaponizing blockades of all resources and humanitarian aid, and deploying illegal white phosphorus munitions to cause permanent damage to native ecosystems, which COP29 claims to protect.

SEND A MESSAGE TO HOPEFUL COP29 ATTENDEES: DO NOT participate in the greenwashing of genocide! DO NOT participate in the greenwashing of fossil fuel proliferation! BOYCOTT COP29 IN AZERBAIJAN and demand the UNFCCC change the venue for COP29 to a new host country or the alternate in Bonn, Germany, and finally put COP on track to meet the climate goals that the world needs!

Enter your information in the "Return Address" form and send an email to attendees demanding they boycott COP29 in Azerbaijan, and to the UN holding them accountable for greenwashing!