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Nazrin Abdul

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The root cause of climate change goes beyond just energy sources, Azernews reports that this was stated by Elnur Soltanov, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Chief Executive Officer of COP29, during the International Scientific Conference for Researchers in Economics and Management.

He noted that the global population today enjoys a standard of living unprecedented in history — a direct result of economic development driven by industrialization. However, he emphasized that industrial progress has largely depended on traditional energy sources.

“Industrialization would not have been possible without energy,” Soltanov said. “But it's misleading to place the blame for climate change solely on the energy sector — as if it's the only source of the problem. That simply doesn't reflect reality.”

According to him, around 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from non-energy sectors, including agriculture, waste management, and certain industrial processes.

“For example, in cement production, carbon dioxide is released during the chemical transformation of limestone — even if renewable energy is used in the process. This means that emissions also occur in sectors that aren't directly energy-related,” he explained.

Soltanov also pointed out that the main contributors to these emissions are developed countries, due to the scale of their economies.

“The larger a country’s economy, the bigger its carbon footprint,” he stated. “The challenge is that preventing greenhouse gas emissions is an extremely costly endeavor. However, it is solvable — it just requires significant financial resources. If we aim to build an economy with a cleaner climate footprint, we must allocate more funding and take serious steps in that direction.”