DUBAI – Azerbaijan and Brazil were formally approved on Dec 11 as the hosts of the United Nation’s climate talks in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

The decision was made official at the COP28 conference in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, where nations were struggling to reach a deal on the fate of fossil fuels.

Azerbaijan, whose economy is also heavily reliant on oil and gas exports, will host COP29 from Nov 11 to 22 in 2024. A document released in Dubai said COP28 “accepts with appreciation” Azerbaijan’s offer to host the next Conference of the Parties, as the annual summit is known.

The decision clears up major uncertainty over 2024’s talks after strong opposition to several candidates from Russia, which did not want the summit to take place in a member of the European Union.

Azerbaijan cleared a major hurdle last week when its historic rival, Armenia, said it would withdraw its own bid to lead COP29 and back its neighbour as the two seek to repair relations.

Azerbaijan in September seized back Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave controlled by ethnic Armenians and allied with Yerevan for three decades, in a lightning war.

Brazil, one of the world’s top 10 oil producers, offered to host COP30 in the Amazon.

COP30 will be held from Nov 10 to 21 in 2025, a crucial year for the negotiations when countries are expected to have improved upon their climate commitments.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed to achieve zero deforestation by 2030 and positioned Brazil as a climate champion on forest protection, while also advancing plans to join the Opec+ alliance of petroleum exporting countries.

Mr Lula said at COP28 that Brazil would tell oil producers to get ready to “reduce fossil fuels”. AFP