Climate change not solely caused by energy sector, says COP29 CEO

The root cause of climate change goes beyond just energy
sources, Azernews reports that this was stated by
Elnur Soltanov, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Chief
Executive Officer of COP29, during the International Scientific
Conference for Researchers in Economics and Management.

He noted that the global population today enjoys a standard of
living unprecedented in history — a direct result of economic
development driven by industrialization. However, he emphasized
that industrial progress has largely depended on traditional energy
sources.

“Industrialization would not have been possible without energy,”
Soltanov said. “But it’s misleading to place the blame for climate
change solely on the energy sector — as if it’s the only source of
the problem. That simply doesn’t reflect reality.”

According to him, around 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions
come from non-energy sectors, including agriculture, waste
management, and certain industrial processes.

“For example, in cement production, carbon dioxide is released
during the chemical transformation of limestone — even if renewable
energy is used in the process. This means that emissions also occur
in sectors that aren’t directly energy-related,” he explained.

Soltanov also pointed out that the main contributors to these
emissions are developed countries, due to the scale of their
economies.

“The larger a country’s economy, the bigger its carbon
footprint,” he stated. “The challenge is that preventing greenhouse
gas emissions is an extremely costly endeavor. However, it is
solvable — it just requires significant financial resources. If we
aim to build an economy with a cleaner climate footprint, we must
allocate more funding and take serious steps in that
direction.”