Davos, Switzerland - January 20, 2025 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has emphasized the need for major countries to make "consolidated" efforts to address the urgent challenges of climate change, which he said pose an "existential threat" to many vulnerable nations around the world. Aliyev was speaking after U.S. President Donald Trump moved to sign dozens of executive orders following his inauguration on Monday, including one withdrawing the U.S. from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change. In an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Aliyev discussed the widespread dismay over the U.S. pulling out of the accord, particularly from the countries who are facing the gravest climate threats. He noted Azerbaijan has been actively pushing for greater climate action, highlighted by its hosting of COP29, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC), last year. He stressed how the these smaller countries' lack of financial resources puts them at greater risk of the impact of climate change, and emphasized the importance of a unified approach from the world’s major powers to help those most in need. Further underlining the efforts Azerbaijian is taking towards a more green and sustainable future, Aliyev shared that the country has set clear clean energy targets in the coming years and welcomes investment to meet these goals. He also noted that Chinese technologies are playing a big role in the transition. Shotlist: Davos, Switzerland - Jan 20, 2025: FILE: East Africa - Date Unknown 1. Aerial shot of flooded land; 2. Various of flash floods in residential area; 3. Dried land, cracks on ground; FILE: Hulha Negra, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - 2023 4. Withered plants; FILE: Makueni County, Kenya - Dec 17, 2022 5. Various of local people dragging water tanks; Davos,Switzerland - Jan 20, 2025 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijani President (partially overlaid with shots 7-8/ending with shot 9): "Actually, when we became deeply involved in the issues related to climate change, we've seen that there is a big level of disappointment in the countries which have existential threats with respect to climate change. We all suffer from that, including Azerbaijan, but there are countries, especially small island states, which face an existential threat. And their case sometimes was not put on the center of the agenda. It is obvious that without the consolidated approach of big actors, it will be difficult to support those countries, and those countries who don't have financial resources to address climatic issues."; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: East Africa - Date Unknown 7. Various of flooded area, residents; 8. Debris after flood, residents; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Baku, Azerbaijan - Nov 11, 2024 9. Various of COP29 signs; 10. Sign reading "Welcome to COP29; Entrance"; Davos,Switzerland - Jan 20, 2025 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijani President (starting with shot 10/partially overlaid with shot 12): "Our immediate target by 2027 is to have two gigawatts of solar and wind, and by 2030, six gigawatt. And that will be kind of revolution in the energy mix in Azerbaijan. I'd like also to say that the investors, which are investing -- [including] foreign companies -- in these projects, [and] including local companies from Azerbaijan, they use Chinese technology. Solar panels are produced in China. Now our team is working on storage capacity. And we found out that the best batteries are in China."; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown 12. Various of solar panels; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown 13. Aerial shots of offshore wind turbines; 14. Wind turbines, solar panels. [Restirction - No access Chinese mainland]