British lobbyists accused oil-rich Azerbaijan of “greenwashing” ahead of the COP climate summit.

Pre-COP climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan in September (Source: COP29 media.)

A lobbying firm with close ties to senior British politicians And the oil industry will receive $4.7 million to help Azerbaijan's authoritarian regime improve its image ahead of the crucial UN COP climate summit next month, Democracy for Sale can reveal.

Lobby giant Teneo, which employs former Labor culture secretary Ben Bradshaw as well as Boris Johnson's former business chief, has won the seven-month contract which campaigners say will help the oil-rich state “greenwash” its reputation.

On November 11, the UN will host its COP 29 climate summit in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital. The choice of Azerbaijan to host the summit was controversial. Its economy is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and critics point to that of the regime Human rights record including the imprisonment of climate activists.

An investigation by Democracy for Sale in connection with the i-paper and SourceMaterial, reveals that one of its British consultants worked as part of the Teneo contract is paid “a monthly fee of $25,000 plus bonuses totaling $50,000,” while only Work on a “part-time basis”.

Teneo's lobbying team working on the Azerbaijan deal also includes Boris Johnson's former chief economic adviser Alex Hickman.

According to US documents, Teneo will “provide”Media training“ and advises the hosts of the COP summit on “narrative development”. The lobbying firm's work is led by its global strategy president Geoff Morrell, a former executive at oil giant BP, Azerbaijan's largest foreign investor.

While working for BP, Morrell reprimanded “opportunistic” environmentalists for exaggerating the impact of the company's Deepwater Horizon explosion, an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people and spilled four million barrels of oil into the ocean

Climate protection groups have accused Teneo of helping Azerbaijan “greenwash” its image. Lela Stanley, senior investigator at Global Witness, said: “Companies that support petro-states like Azerbaijan… are engaged in greenwashing.”

“Instead of focusing on whitewashing their image, Azerbaijan and its partners should ensure that fossil fuel companies pay into the United Nations Loss and Damage Fund. Polluters who are destroying the planet should pay for the destruction they have caused.”

In addition to its work for the Azerbaijani regime, Teneo has also signed lucrative deals to work with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on other contracts, according to our analysis US government documents. It also works for some of the world's leading fossil fuel companies, including British gas owner Centrica and mining giant BHP.

Kathy Mulvey, campaigner at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “It is a clear conflict of interest for a PR firm to be paid to serve both clients of oil and gas companies driving the climate crisis and the government of the Host country tasked with addressing the impending climate crisis.” international climate negotiations.”

Repression of human rights

Azerbaijan was accused of aggravation its crackdown on human rights and media freedom since the country hosted the world's most important climate conference.

Last July, Gubad Ibadoghlua political scientist at the London School of Economics, was arrested while visiting his family in Azerbaijan. Ibadoghlu was a vocal critic of the Aliyev regime.

“The main purpose of the regime is to eliminate those who oppose it. They saw my father as a threat, a threat to their money, a threat to their power. That was enough for them to decide that they have to find a way to stop them,” his 24-year-old son Ibad told Democracy for Sale in a video call from Sweden, where he lives with his sister and mother.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said. “Azerbaijan is hosting an international conference on climate justice while actively undermining the mainstays of climate activism – suppressing all forms of critical expression and protests and dismantling local civil society.”

Earlier this year, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that “owning oil and gas reserves is not our fault.” IIt is a gift from God.”

At a climate diplomacy event in Berlin, Aliyev said: “As the head of a country rich in fossil fuels, we will of course defend the right of these countries to continue to invest and produce, because the world needs it.”

Heads of state and government, ministers and negotiators from around the world come together at the COP to negotiate and approve plans to jointly address climate change and its impacts.

Although Azerbaijan is hosting the environmental summit, it plans to do so Ramp up oil and gas According to a report by a German NGO, production will increase over the next decade.

The country, which generates 60% of its total revenue from oil and gas, has also massively increased its gas exports to Europe since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Lobbying links

Teneo was founded in 2011 by a former adviser to President Bill Clinton and is headquartered in New York. Teneo has quickly become one of the largest lobbying firms in the West.

Much of Teneo's growth has come from acquiring smaller lobbying firms, including Tulchan Communications, founded by former Conservative Party leader Andrew Feldman. Baron Feldman continues to lobby for Teneo and leads the company's strategy and communications business in the UK, whose clients include Thames Water, Severn Trent and McDonalds.

Shortly after the general election, the company also sought to strengthen its ties with the Labor government Appointment of former Labor cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw as senior advisor

Although Bradshaw is not listed in the US documents as one of the people working on the Azerbaijan COP contract, Nick Claydon, the company's UK managing director, said when he was hired by Teneo: “Ben's deep insights and experience help “Understanding the priorities and approach.” The work of the new Labor government will be of enormous benefit to Teneo’s customers around the world.”

Teneo's chief executive in the UK is Patrick Loughlan, one of Tony's Blair's former Downing Street special advisers and former Labor policy director and head of research. The company's managing director, Robert Fuller, also spent six weeks Volunteering to help Labor in the last election campaign.

Both Teneo and the Azerbaijani government declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Peter Geoghegan.