Cop host Azerbaijan joins Global Methane Pledge

Azerbaijan on Monday joined the Global Methane Pledge group of countries that have promised to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) by 30pc by 2030.

The country, which will host the UN Cop 29 climate summit in November this year, today announced that it is joining the group formed at the Cop 26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.

A majority of global countries — 156 with Azerbaijan — have signed the pledge. But some major emitters of methane remain outside. China, which on its own accounts for more than 15pc of global methane emissions, is not a member. Neither are second and fourth-largest emitters India and Russia.

Azerbaijan's methane emissions of 624,000 t/yr in 2019-22 made up less than 0.01pc of global methane emissions, according to IEA data. Slightly more than half the country's emissions came from its energy sector, with agriculture accounting for most of the rest.

As host of the upcoming climate conference, hydrocarbon-producing Azerbaijan's own record on emissions has come under scrutiny. State-owned Socar in December last year announced that it was setting up a unit, Socar Green, to increase renewables growth. The Azeri government aims for renewables to make up 30pc of installed power generation capacity by 2030.

By Rhys Talbot