Inside COP29: Outcomes and Insights from Azerbaijan

Hosted by: Phil Dillard

COP, one of the largest and most significant international conferences on environmental issues, just occurred in November in Azerbaijan. In this episode, you will hear from three Inogen Alliance members who attended the event and have been heavily involved in the negotiations as they share their insights and learnings from this year's gathering. We hear from Dr. Amr Abdel-Aziz, Chairman at Integral Consult in Egypt, Ilkin Haji, Founder & Executive Director at Sustainera Solutions in Azerbaijan, and Hilton Lucio, CEO of Antea Brasil.

Amr Osama Abdel-Aziz

Integral Consult - Egypt

Dr. Abdel-Aziz has over 29 years of consulting experience in environment and energy sectors, including climate change projects (mitigation, adaptation, finance, GHG inventories), environmental auditing, impact assessment, industrial pollution abatement, cleaner production, compliance, strategic planning/policy development, energy efficiency, emission inventories, uncertainty quantification, emissions modeling, air quality modeling, and health risk assessment.

Dr. Amr has participated in all COPs and Pre-COPs since COP 21 in Paris, serving as an advisor to the Minister of Environment. His roles included providing advice and preparing policy and briefing documents on various negotiation issues. At COP 27, he was the Senior Advisor and Team Leader for Mitigation and Transparency, leading negotiations for the Sharm El Sheikh Mitigation Work Program and the Ministerial Round Table on Mitigation.

Ilkin Haji

Sustainera Solutions - Azerbaijan

Ilkin Haji is Founder and Executive Director of Sustainera Solutions. I.H is a professional specializing in sustainable development and project management. Ilkin worked with various UN Agencies, inter alia United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s Office in New York as Sustainable Development Expert, UN Development Programme, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Azerbaijan International Development Agency.

His areas of expertise are project management in international development context, financing for development, South-South and Triangular cooperation, partnership building, resource mobilization and science and technology for sustainable development.

Ilkin Hajiyev graduated from the George Washington University with Master Certificate in Project Management; University of Bristol (UK) with MSc degree in Public Policy; Baku Slavic University with BA in International Relations degree.

Hilton Lucio

Antea Group - Brazil

Hilton is a distinguished hydrogeologist with 30 years of experience, renowned for his pioneering work in water resource management in the LATAM region. Today he is the CEO of ANTEA BRASIL and a proud board member of the INOGEN ALLIANCE. His extensive expertise encompasses innovative concepts such as water funds, water vulnerability assessments, and water stewardship practices, which have significantly advanced the region's approach to sustainable water use. Hilton has spearheaded numerous projects, from straightforward hydrogeological characterizations to intricate water resource management initiatives, ensuring both sustainability and efficiency to his clients’ ambitious projects. Hilton's visionary leadership and commitment to excellence continue to inspire and drive progress in the field of environment, water and sustainability throughout Latin America.

Guest Quotes

“COP to me is really where the decision making process related to issues related to climate occur. And by that I mean the negotiations track under the COP always results in decisions that are to be implemented by all parties to the convention. And these decisions are in fact not only climate related, but it impacts development, it impacts economies.” -Amr

“This year's adoption of NCQG, I think it's a positive signal that hope is not lost yet. So with the global cooperation, with multilateralism, we can overcome some critical obstacles.” - Ilkin

“It's not a coincidence that this is attracting more and more of the private sector. All my clients, with no exception, are concerned about climate change much more than they were, I don't know, 15, 10 years ago. And now they have tangible discussions that they can understand as well, hey, this is going to cost something. We're going to have to contribute with our business to reach the national contributions. So it's very translatable to my world, the private sector, the business sector.” - Hilton

Time Stamps

(00:00) Introduction to COP

(01:21) Panel guest intros

(03:00) Key insights and observations from COP29

(08:11) The role of the private sector

(11:17) Challenges and successes in climate negotiations

(28:34) Side events and their impact

(39:45) Looking forward to COP30 in Brazil

(47:27) Key takeaways