Cop29 week one diary: from fossil fuel colouring books to Ronaldinho

Gazprom’s ecological colouring book

Many countries are offering treats at their Cop29 pavilions: the UK’s has a coffee bar; Georgia’s has served wine samples. But no pavilion’s offerings can top Russia’s. There, passersby can pick up a colouring book produced by the Russian majority state-owned gas company Gazprom. Its cover proclaims it full of “ecological colouring for children” and it contains tips on how to promote environmental sustainability, including uplifting the “safety and environmental friendliness of fuel stations”.

Other pages encourage children to “plant trees and flowers” and urge them not to “throw away batteries and lightbulbs, recycle them”.

Gazprom is not the first gas company to advertise to children via colouring books. In 2011 the Canadian fossil fuel company Talisman Energy produced a book featuring a dinosaur called “Talisman Terry, your friendly Fracosaurus”.
Dharna Noor

Starmer stunned by applause at press conference

British political journalists are known around the world for their combative relations with the politicians they cover. Unlike the White House press corps, they do not stand up when a leader walks into a room. Unlike in Paris, they do not have a gentlemen’s agreement not to cover politicians’ personal lives.

So you can imagine the look of surprise on Keir Starmer’s face when he walked into the Karabakh briefing room for his press conference on Tuesday lunchtime and was greeted by applause.

Behind the first two rows of hacks, it turned out seats had been given to various climate industry lobbyists and industry insiders, who were delighted at Starmer’s announcement of the UK’s next emissions target. Once Starmer had recovered from the surprise, he turned with a grin to Sam Coates, Sky’s deputy political editor, who was seated in the front row. “I thought that was you, Sam,” he joked. Video footage of the event confirms it was definitely not.
Kiran Stacey

Ronaldinho pays a visit

Starmer’s unexpected ovation may provide him with much-needed positive memories of the host venue – his previous association is likely to be watching his beloved Arsenal get thumped 4-1 by Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League final.

Baku’s Olympic stadium – which despite its name has neither hosted the Olympics nor announced any plan to do so – has been ranked the world’s 41st best football ground by Four Four Two magazine, just ahead of Wimbledon’s Plough Lane and the Portland Timbers’ Providence Park, but beaten by Old Trafford and St James’ Park.

Cop29’s delegate count this year is 66,778, agonisingly close to exceeding the stadium record set in 2017 when 67,200 people watched the domestic champions Qarabağ lose to Roma.

The unlikely union of football and climate diplomacy was boosted further this week when the Brazil legend Ronaldinho paid a visit to the Azerbaijani pavilion, where he “was presented with a project to restore saline soils and new agricultural technologies”. Unfortunately, Ronaldinho’s thoughts on the innovations went unreported.
Alan Evans

Delegates eschew $23 vegan burgers for Pot Noodle

There is always anger and outrage at injustice at climate Cops, but one target of this might surprise you – the outrageous price of the catering inside the closed conference.

Delegates needing perking up after a late night of negotiating have to shell out $10 for an americano with soya milk. How about vitamin C boost? A small grapefruit juice is $11. A sweet treat to lift the mood? A small chocolate bar sets you back $5.50.

If it’s an actual meal you want, a frankly horrible vegan “groot burger”, fries and Coke will dent your budget by $23. For comparison, you can get a whole pizza, soup, salad and soft drink for less than $10 in Baku city.

Climate Cops are where every country in the world comes to make its case and many of those most affected by the climate crisis are poor. High costs mean they can bring few delegates, and are less able to make their voices heard.

Some delegates have been forced to improvise. One South Pacific delegate has a half-eaten Pot Noodle on her desk, having been stung for $33 the previous day. She took warm water from a water fountain to make it.
Damian Carrington

Fuel companies ‘broke the planet’, says Global Witness on cop29.com

“Fossil fuel companies broke the planet, they should pay for it,” according to the website cop29.com.

Anyone visiting the site is in for a surprise. It has been acquired by the campaign group Global Witness and now leads with the faces of five big oil bosses and the headline: “Fossil fuel companies are destroying the planet for profit. They broke it, they should pay for it.”

Global Witness said it acquired the cop29.com site from an Indian couple who used the domain for their family business. They were offered a significant sum by Azerbaijan’s Cop29 team for the site, Global Witness said, but the owners were worried about climate breakdown and decided to let Global Witness have it instead.
DC