Azerbaijan poised to host 2024 global climate talks

Azerbaijan appears poised to host next year’s global climate summit after longtime adversary Armenia on Friday agreed to stop blocking its bid.

The development means another oil-producing country could host the world’s most important gathering on global warming, a problem caused in large part by fossil fuels. The United Arab Emirates, the world’s seventh-largest producer, is currently hosting the U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP28, in Dubai.

As of Thursday, countries were still locked in an unprecedented standstill over the host of the next summit, which will be known as COP29. While it is an Eastern European country’s turn to host, Russia had threatened to veto any European Union country’s bid. The EU has imposed massive sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

At the same time, warring neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia had threatened to veto each other’s bids to host. Every Eastern European country needs to approve the next host by consensus, meaning any single nation can sink an agreement.

But on Friday, the standstill showed signs of ending. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, and Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, released a joint statement saying they had struck a deal to allow Azerbaijan to preside over COP29.

Armenia agreed to back Azerbaijan’s COP hosting bid in exchange for membership in the eastern European group’s COP bureau.

In addition, Azerbaijan said it would release 32 Armenian soldiers, while Armenia said it would release two Azerbaijani detainees.