The Baku Paradox: An Analysis of Selected Sustainable Development Goals

The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) occurred in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. The conference’s central topic was Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action). It has been said that COP 29 developed into a “climate finance COP” to get wealthier countries to finance actions in poorer countries to remedy damage from the effects of the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. The final agreement was not as ambitious as hoped for. In this study, the discrepancies between the fourteen regions of the countries of the world have been analyzed with a focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). The discrepancies between high-income countries (HICs) and OECD (The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, as well as between low-income countries (LICs) and Africa, are presented. Where LICs and Africa, over the last 24-year period, virtually complied with the climate action goals (SDG 13), the HICs and OECD countries were far behind. A similar discrepancy is noted in sustainable production and consumption (SDG 12). The data show no indication that the increasing innovation in the HICs and OECD countries is reflected in increased sustainable production and consumption or increased compliance with climate action goals. One of the outcomes of the Baku COP 29 meeting was that wealthier countries should finance the remediation of the increasing effects of global temperature increase on the poorer countries, thus enabling them to continue without changing their habits.