Dear President Ilham Aliyev,

COP29 offers an incredible opportunity for all humanity to advance towards a cleaner, safer and more inclusive future. The eyes of the world will be on Baku and with this great opportunity also comes responsibility. That means representing all people, including the more than 50% of the global population that are women.  

The decision to include no women in Azerbaijan’s COP29 Organisational Committee risks undermining the UN climate negotiation process. 

Gender diversity is crucial to successful negotiations and decision-making, bringing with it better, bolder decisions that have been shown to last.  

Many of the key successes of the COP process, including the Paris Agreement, were delivered by women leaders, working closely with their male colleagues. In the private sector, many of the leading voices for transformational action on climate are coming from women executives. Around the world, in every sector and industry new climate related jobs are being created and many are being filled with exceptionally talented women at every level.  

We need to ensure the best minds come together to advance solutions at this year’s negotiations in Baku. The absence or underrepresentation of women in the top team organising COP29 can only serve to diminish the progress we need from these climate talks.  

Hosting the COP negotiations provides a unique platform to attract international investment, tourism and attention. Azerbaijan has the chance to showcase the leadership of your most talented individuals, both men and women.  

As women leaders from business, civil society and science, we call on the Azerbaijan government to rethink the make-up of the COP29 Organisational Committee to include as many women as possible. The inclusion of both men and women in the decision-making team will offer strong foundations for a successful year of climate negotiations for Azerbaijan and take us a step closer to keeping our planet and all people safe for the future.