By Aygun Baliyarli

Copyright trend

BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 29. Azerbaijan is
showcasing real steps to address climate change, Head of Climate
Change and Sustainable Development Services for Central Asia at EY
Victor Kovalenko told Trend on the sidelines of the Baku Climate Action Week
(BCAW2025).

“Being in Baku, listening to representatives of the government
and state institutions, as well as observing the activities of
Azerbaijani companies, international participants are convinced:
real work on climate change adaptation and mitigation — with
tangible financial results — is happening right here in
Azerbaijan,” the analyst said.

According to him, the main value of the Baku Climate Week lies
in the fact that Azerbaijan continues to remain in the spotlight of
both the global and regional community.

Kovalenko also drew attention to the key role of business in the
climate agenda:
“The state and government should deliver global messages — about
the region, the planet, and the country as a whole, but business
thinks differently: it needs practical, clear, and understandable
examples. Here’s a simple case: if a business is told to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, explained by the fact that somewhere the
ocean will rise by a couple of meters and flood a country — yes,
this is serious on a global scale, but what does that mean for a
specific enterprise?” he said.

The analyst emphasized that exactly such connections between
global challenges and the day-to-day operations of small companies
need to be highlighted at events like this.

“An entrepreneur needs to hear and understand: all these words
are directly related to their reality. This is especially important
for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Large companies think on a broad scale: they understand that
there might be water shortages somewhere, transportation corridors
through the Caspian might be disrupted, or there could be issues
with crop yields. But small businesses are confined to their niche,
their product, and their main goal is survival. Therefore, the key
task of such events is to ‘ground’ the global climate agenda and
explain what exactly it means for SMEs,” concluded Kovalenko.

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