Leaders of Coastal First Nations are on the ground in Azerbaijan to line up Asian buyers for their Indigenous-led gas exports from LNG facilities under development in British Columbia.
It’s crunch time for the First Nation Climate Initiative (FNCI), the pro-LNG (liquefied natural gas) First Nation coalition that pitches the fossil fuel’s role in the world’s decarbonization efforts. For the long-term viability of Indigenous-led LNG, the organization needs to find export partners in Asia or the projects are at risk. The delegation has arrived in Azerbaijan at a time when the world is on the cusp of1.5 C, and yet fossil fuel combustion continues to rise.
It’s not unheard-of for fossil fuel deals to be cut at the world’s climate negotiations. At COP28, the host, United Arab Emirates, was found to use the climate talks to seal oil deals. At this year’s COP29, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev called oil and gas a “gift of God,” while Elnur Soltanov, deputy energy minister and COP29 CEO, was caught by an undercover activist saying the country would develop oil and gas “perhaps forever.”