Private jet arrivals at Baku’s international airport have doubled as world leaders fly in to preach about global warming during the Cop29 summit.
The UN climate conference, being held this year in the oil-rich capital of Azerbaijan, has already sparked controversy over the country’s human rights records.
Data from tracking website Flight Radar now shows that 65 private jets arrived in Baku in the week leading to Monday, The Times has reported.
Some 45 planes landed on Sunday and Monday alone as the Cop29 summit got underway.
This compares to the 32 private jets that arrived at Baku airport during the same week last year.
Delegates attending the climate conference by private jet have been accused of hypocrisy by environmental campaigners for their private jet use.
Denise Auclair from the Travel Smart Campaign said: ‘The number of arrivals by private jet we are seeing at Cop29 puts front and centre the hypocrisy of using a private jet while claiming to be fighting climate change, particularly from an equity point of view.
‘An executive taking one long-haul private flight will burn more CO₂ than several normal people do in an entire year.’
However, the overall number of private jets arriving in Baku is considerably lower than the 644 that arrived in Dubai for Cop28, producing 4,800 tonnes of CO₂.
Many world leaders have chosen not to attend this year with President Biden, President Xi of China, and Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi all shunning Cop29 despite their countries being some of the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.
Senior figures from the EU are also absent from what is feared will be yet another talking shop that achieves little or nothing in the way of concrete action.
French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are all staying at home.
Sir Keir Starmer is one of the only premiers from the wealthiest nations in Azerbaijan for the annual gathering, although the Taliban has sent a representative.
Sir Keir is laying out a target for the UK to slash 81 per cent off carbon emissions by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.
Countries will also be grappling with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, in what analysts say is a trend of climate scepticism in elections this year.
The next President of the US, the world’s second biggest polluter, is expected to boost fossil fuels, roll back green incentives domestically and take America out – again – of the global Paris Agreement on tackling climate change, which commits countries to pursue efforts to curb warming to 1.5C.
The choice of Azerbaijan to host the talks has come under criticism over its human rights record, with failings including the persecution of political opponents and detainment of activists.
