Elena Sorokina Crude Accountability’s new report, Flames of Toxicity: Environmental and Social Impacts of Azerbaijan’s Oil and Gas Development, documents the toxic effects of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas production sites on health, well-being, and human rights of citizens living near those sites.
To provide a comprehensive overview of those impacts, Crude Accountability partnered with Omanos Analytics, a UK-based space technology start-up that delivers space data knowledge to support sustainable development. Provided with locations of on- and offshore production facilities in Azerbaijan, Omanos Analytics conducted remote environmental monitoring using satellite imagery analysis. Crude Accountability then verified and supported Omanos’ findings using our citizen science, interviews, and observation.
Combining those methodologies shows us that in some communities the effects of fossil fuel productions are devastating to human health, farming, and the economic well-being of people living near the production sites. Among other key findings, the research identifies an absence of transparency in the industry, little to no publicly available information about any environmental monitoring of these projects, and minimal public engagment in the decision-making process.
In addition, the report looks at Azerbaijan in the broader context of its environmental commitments under the Paris Agreement, as well as its solicitation of climate funds from international institutions.
“This report provides a foundation to hold Azerbaijan accountable – both to the communities surrounding its massive oil and gas facilities, and to its population more broadly – in its transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to one more in alignment with its Paris commitments and the changes necessary to address climate change,” says Kate Watters, Crude Accountability Executive Director.
View and download the report here: https://bit.ly/3rfiAIi (PDF)
View and download key findings: https://bit.ly/3rfiDnC
Contact: Kate Watters kate@nullcrudeaccountability.org