Global leaders gathered in Azerbaijan for the COP29 climate summit where the host country's president, Ilham Aliyev, took the opportunity to call Azerbaijan's oil and gas resources a "gift from God" during his keynote address.

The summit will see almost 200 nations negotiating global action on climate change, but Aliyev urged participants to "be realistic" when doing so. "As a president of COP29 of course, we will be a strong advocate for green transition, and we are doing it. But at the same time, we must be realistic," he stated. He said that oil and gas are a "gift from God," adding, "Countries should not be blamed for having them, and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because the market needs them. The people need them."

He said that Azerbaijan had been a victim of a "well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail" from Western countries and called out the United States and the European Union specifically for their "double standards" when it comes to carbon emission.

Almost immediately after his remarks, UN chief Antonio Guterres took the stage and called Aliyev's strategy of doubling down on fossil fuels absurd, per Reuters. US national climate adviser Ali Zaidi responded by commending the US for its decarbonization, saying that the world would meet its climate targets if every other country kept up with its pace.