An official with Azerbaijan's Presidency of next week's United Nations COP29 climate summit appeared to offer to facilitate talks about new fossil fuel deals ahead of the conference, according to a video secretly recorded by an advocacy group.

Fossil fuels are a gift from God and giving them up is not realistic, the host of the Cop29 climate summit has said. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, defended his country’s oil and gas industry during opening remarks at the conference in the country’s capital Baku on Tuesday.

Oil and gas are 'gift from God', Azerbaijan president tells Cop29 climate summit - ‘Countries should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because the market needs them’ - Ilham Al