A TBI spokesperson said: “We are not at present contracted for the Azerbaijan government on COP29, but have always said we’re pleased to help governments working on COP.”
‘Nothing to do with COP’
To finance TBI’s work around the world, Blair has received donations from some of the world’s largest philanthropies, including recently a reported $375 million from the foundation of U.S. technology billionaire Larry Ellison. TBI has expanded its offering in the climate space dramatically in recent years, seeking to influence and advise heads of state and key ministers around the world.
TBI’s work on global issues like climate change and public health has helped Blair to reform his international image, which had become that of a diplomatic mercenary. Since leaving British politics in 2007, and before starting TBI, Blair worked for several governments including reportedly lobbying the Chinese government on behalf of PetroSaudi, a fossil fuel company owned by a Saudi prince.
He has built a particularly close relationship with the autocratic government of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. Last year, the Azeri government was accused of ethnic cleansing of Armenians living in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 2014, Blair was hired as an advisor to a BP-led consortium looking to build a pipeline from Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea gas fields to the south of Italy. He reportedly lobbied the Italian government on behalf of the project in 2018.
The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), as the pipeline is known, was seen by climate advocates as a trap that would encourage Europe to use natural gas for longer than needed. Shortly after it came online in 2020, Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine began. To many of the project’s advocates, this justified their backing. The European Commission recently referred to it as “a crucial route of gas supply diversification for the EU.” Last year, Azerbaijan supplied about 3 percent of total EU gas imports.
Aliyev has agreed to double Azerbaijan’s supply to the EU. Last month, according to state media, he warned that “general anti-fossil fuel trends” should not get in the way of European banks financing the expansion of the pipeline. The European Investment Bank, which has almost €1 billion in outstanding loans to the SGC, told POLITICO it would no longer support such projects because of their impact on the climate.
“The project was an essential part of supplying Europe’s gas needs from sources other than Russia,” said the spokesperson for TBI. “It has nothing to do with any COP work. And we would point out that, in any event, Europe will have need of gas for many years to come even if all climate commitments are met.”