Azerbaijan Approves Conditional Net Zero Strategy for 2060, Setting Out Changes Across the Economy

A 2060 goal with financing conditions attached

Azerbaijan has approved a strategy to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060, with plans to change how electricity is generated, buildings are insulated, vehicles are powered and agricultural machinery operates. The target is conditional on securing additional finance, technology and international support.

Prime Minister Ali Asadov signed Cabinet Decision No. 346 in Baku on October 21, 2026. The approval was announced on October 22. The decision adopts the Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy and assigns ministries specific responsibilities for putting it into practice and monitoring progress.

The strategy connects the 2060 goal with a nearer target: cutting net greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2035 compared with 1990. Azerbaijan's Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0, its national climate commitment under the Paris Agreement, makes that earlier target conditional on financial resources, access to technology, training and the capacity of forests and other ecosystems to absorb emissions.

Net zero means cutting emissions as far as possible and balancing the remainder with removals, including carbon absorbed by forests or captured through technology. Azerbaijan's plans cover seven sectors: power, oil and gas, buildings, industry, transportation, agriculture and land use, and waste.

For households, the proposed changes include better insulation, electric heating and cleaner transport. For businesses, they include replacing inefficient equipment, reducing methane leaks and adapting production processes. The strategy expects investment in these changes to create jobs and support economic growth, while acknowledging that reaching the target will require substantial resources.

The cabinet decision also creates an accountability requirement: the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources must monitor implementation and report its findings to the State Commission on Climate Change every two years.

What the 2035 target means in numbers

Azerbaijan's national climate commitment puts net emissions at 82.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 1990 and 69.3 million tonnes in 2022. Carbon dioxide equivalent is a common measuring unit that allows gases with different warming effects, such as methane and carbon dioxide, to be counted together.

A 40% reduction from the 1990 figure would bring net emissions to about 49.6 million tonnes in 2035. Calculated from the document's figures, Azerbaijan would need to cut approximately 19.7 million tonnes from its 2022 level, or about 28.4%.

The new national commitment also moves the deadline forward. Azerbaijan's previous contribution sought a 40% reduction by 2050; the current one brings the same percentage target forward by 15 years, to 2035.

The accounting has changed too. The government updated its 1990 emissions estimate using the latest guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and moved the baseline used for projections from 2016 to 2022. The reduction target still uses 1990 as its reference point.

Who must turn the strategy into action?

The Ministry of Economy must coordinate the inclusion of decarbonization measures in state programs, strategies, national action plans and other policy documents. Decarbonization means reducing the greenhouse gases released by activities such as generating power, making goods and moving people.

The Ministry of Finance is instructed to finance relevant measures, subject to the decision's provisions on additional resources. The 2060 target explicitly depends on international cooperation and financial support, technology transfer, concessional loans and private investment. Concessional loans offer more favorable terms than ordinary commercial borrowing.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources must submit the strategy to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It must also organize public information activities and presentations involving scientific institutions, civil society organizations and other groups.

Decision No. 346 draws its legal basis from Article 119 of Azerbaijan's Constitution, the October 28, 2016 law ratifying the Paris Agreement and Article 4 of that agreement. The decision turns the strategy into an approved national policy with named ministries responsible for delivery.

Azerbaijan's national climate commitment separately provides for reviews every five years and transparency reports to the UN climate body every two years. Those international processes sit alongside the cabinet's requirement for domestic monitoring.

Solar, wind and a grid able to carry them

The energy roadmap begins with expanding solar and onshore wind generation. Transmission lines and distribution networks are to be modernized to handle growing electricity demand and connect more renewable generation.

Electricity networks matter because new wind and solar projects need a reliable route to consumers. The national climate commitment also calls for grid controls that reduce technical losses, meaning electricity lost as it moves through the system.

Battery storage is another planned part of the transition. Batteries can store electricity when generation is plentiful and release it when needed, helping manage changes in wind and sunshine.

The roadmap also includes combined cycle gas turbine plants linked to blue hydrogen production, along with carbon capture and storage infrastructure. Combined cycle plants use both gas turbines and recovered heat to generate electricity. Blue hydrogen is made from fossil fuels using carbon capture to reduce the emissions released during production.

Carbon capture and storage involves collecting carbon dioxide and placing it in long term storage, commonly underground. The roadmap envisages an increasing role for renewables and storage over time, supported by regulations, policy programs and investment.

Karabakh, East Zangezur and Nakhchivan are central to the strategy's green energy zones. The national climate commitment identifies Nakhchivan as a potential net energy exporter, meaning it could produce more energy than it uses and sell the surplus.

Methane reductions put oil and gas in focus

Azerbaijan's oil and gas sector generated approximately 19.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, about 28% of national emissions, according to the national climate commitment. Sources included methane released deliberately or through leaks, gas flaring and fuel combustion.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, making leak detection and repair an important part of the planned reductions. The strategy identifies methane cuts among the relatively inexpensive measures that can be implemented with technology already available by 2035.

Azerbaijan has joined the Global Methane Pledge, which calls for a collective reduction in global methane emissions of 30% by 2030 compared with 2020. The pledge's percentage is a global objective shared by participating countries.

SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company, participates in the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter and has joined the United Nations Environment Programme's Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, a methane reporting and reduction program.

The charter sets goals of ending routine flaring by 2030, reaching near zero methane emissions by 2035 and achieving net zero operational emissions by 2050. Its operational target concerns emissions from running oil and gas businesses, while Azerbaijan's national strategy covers emissions across the economy.

Buildings face an insulation overhaul

Azerbaijan plans for all existing and new buildings to have adequate insulation by 2060. The strategy identifies older Soviet construction materials and their weaker insulation standards as a reason to replace or upgrade building materials.

Proposed measures include advanced thermal insulation and double glazed windows. Better insulated walls, roofs and windows slow the movement of heat, reducing the energy needed to keep buildings warm in winter and cool in summer.

The national climate commitment sets out nearer measures for 2035: insulating existing buildings, setting high insulation standards for new construction and encouraging efficient lighting, appliances and air conditioning. It also proposes electric heat pumps and electric stoves in existing residential buildings.

Heat pumps move heat between a building and its surroundings rather than generating all their heat directly from fuel. The plans include incentives for their installation in urban and rural areas and the use of renewable electricity to power them.

For industry, the strategy calls for improving production processes and replacing equipment that consumes large amounts of energy or releases high emissions. The national commitment also lists electric boilers, heat pumps and leak detection and repair among measures for industrial activities.

Passenger cars and farm machinery move toward electricity

Azerbaijan's strategy aims for electric vehicles and vehicles using other alternative energy sources to make up 100% of the passenger car fleet by 2060. By 2035, it envisages initial planning for the retirement of cars with internal combustion engines and incentives to increase electric vehicle adoption.

Transport accounted for 9.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, or 13% of national emissions. Road transport produced 8.6 million tonnes, representing 92% of the sector's total, according to the national climate commitment.

The proposed response extends beyond private cars. Measures for 2035 include modernizing buses, trains and metro networks, expanding railway use and increasing the electric vehicle share of bus and truck fleets. The document also includes biofuels and blending biofuel into aviation fuel.

Earlier bus targets in the national commitment called for 500 electric buses in operation in 2025 and 1,100 in 2026, involving BakuBus and private operators. Those figures describe planned fleet expansion.

Agriculture, forestry and other land use machinery has its own electrification goal. The strategy calls for accelerating the move away from internal combustion machinery by 2035 and reaching 100% electrification, with emissions from that machinery subsector eliminated, by 2060.

Farm emissions also come from livestock and crop production. The national commitment therefore includes manure composting alongside machinery changes, reflecting the different sources that need to be addressed.

Forests and waste complete the emissions picture

Agriculture emitted 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022. Land use, land use change and forestry absorbed a net 5.2 million tonnes that year, bringing the combined net emissions of agriculture, forestry and other land use to 2.8 million tonnes.

Forests accounted for 3.6 million tonnes of those removals across 1.04 million hectares. The national climate commitment projected an expansion of approximately 30,000 hectares of forest land by 2026, taking forest coverage to 12.3%.

Protecting and restoring forests is part of the strategy because living trees absorb carbon as they grow. Azerbaijan's 2035 target explicitly depends in part on the continued ability of forests and other ecosystems to absorb emissions.

Waste generated 4.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, approximately 7% of national emissions. Planned measures include sorting, recycling and separating waste where it is produced, supported by public awareness programs.

The national waste strategy also includes circular product design, which means making products easier to reuse, repair or recycle so fewer materials are discarded.

The milestones and financing still ahead

Azerbaijan's strategy links climate measures with jobs, new technologies and economic competitiveness. Achieving those benefits will require trained specialists and workers with the skills to install, operate and maintain new equipment.

The national climate commitment envisages funding from government, local and foreign investors, public and private partnerships, development banks and climate investment funds. Grants and loans on favorable terms are part of the proposed mix. The strategy also connects implementation with the climate finance agreements reached at COP29 in Baku and continuing international climate diplomacy.

A total implementation cost, a financing package already secured and dates for the public presentations were not specified in the approval announcement. The main milestones are:

• October 21, 2026: Prime Minister Ali Asadov signed Decision No. 346 approving the strategy.
• October 22, 2026: The strategy's approval was announced.
• By 2035: Azerbaijan targets a conditional 40% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels.
• By 2060: The strategy targets conditional net zero emissions, full electrification of agricultural and land use machinery, and a passenger car fleet powered by electricity or other alternative energy sources.
• Every two years: The environment ministry must report implementation monitoring results to the State Commission on Climate Change.

Key Points

• Azerbaijan has approved a national strategy targeting net zero emissions by 2060, conditional on additional finance, technology and international support.
• The 2035 target would reduce net emissions to approximately 49.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, calculated from the official 1990 figure.
• Plans cover renewable power, electricity networks, methane leaks, insulation, transport, industry, agriculture, forests and waste.
• The Economy Ministry must integrate measures into national policies, while the Finance Ministry is responsible for financing under the decision's conditions.
• The environment ministry must monitor delivery and report to the climate commission every two years.