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For the third year running, the United Nations climate summit will be hosted in yet another petro-state with an appalling human rights record. Next week, Azerbaijan will host COP29. In the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a renewable energy project is providing cover-up for Azerbaijan’s recent ethnic cleansing of Armenians and its disastrous environmental record.
The story of Nagorno-Kabakh is a powerful example of how crucial it is to take power over how energy transitions take place. We cannot fight simply for an energy transition, but must be directive and deliberate in how that energy transition takes place. If we take renewables at face value, and look simply at the carbon reduction figures, we are blind to how the energy transition can be utilised to entrench deeply unjust social structures.
This is a call for environmental NGOS and movements to be more vocal and critical on renewable energy projects.The energy transition is not an end-goal in itself, it can be a tool for oppression or for liberation depending on the path of this transition and the values upholding it.
What can you do to support the fight for justice in Azerbaijan? Just one act is to sign this petition to free Gubad Ibadoghlu, the anti corruption expert and advocate who has been detained on unsubstantiated charges since July 2023. Sign the petition here and read more to understand his story here.
This webpage is just an introduction. Access the full materials on the following links:
PS – at Gastivists we are working hard to complexify our understanding of the energy transition. We are exploring how we can make sure our movement’s fights against gas and other fossil fuels don’t pave the way for projects like Azerbaijan’s renewables in Nagorno-Karabakh. Want to talk about it? Or interested to write a story about this report? Feel very welcome to get in touch, on hello@gastivists.org
