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Approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 1862 dated 29.11.2011, “Azerbaijan 2020: Outlook for the Future” Development Concept along with a number of promising social and economic development trends raised the issue of environmental protection including climate change combat in the country. Although the strategic documents adopted at the next stage discuss policies and measures to reduce the climate change impact, the quantitative criterion for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) was first introduced by the Republic of Azerbaijan in October 2015 in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC within the Paris Agreement. In this regard, as its contribution to global initiatives to prevent climate change, the Republic of Azerbaijan has set a target of a 35% decrease in the level of GHG emissions by 2030 compared to the base year of 1990 (netto, i.e. with removals). In this regard, the GEF-supported Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action on the low-carbon end-user sectors in Azerbaijan has three sub-components:

(a) Green Building Program;
(b) Sustainable Transport Program;
(c) Associated Gas Collection Program.

The development of this project was funded by the Global Environment Facility. However, SOCAR has spent about $ 35 million on the project. The project helps implement SOCAR’s Climate Change Reduction Strategy and expand GHG reduction measures in three areas.
In fact, as the result of joint activities, the administrative area of the project under the (a) Green Building Program component with a total area of 10,000 m2 was equipped with energy-efficient equipment and environmental facilities, including energy-efficient windows, underfloor heating, ventilation and thermal insulation systems. The audit results in buildings showed that the measures taken led to reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in buildings by 200 tons and a 35% reduction in energy consumption. It is to note that a total of 2,500 people are expected to benefit from these buildings each year.
The international consultant on Project component (b) worked closely with Local Experts and the Project Team in general to apply new methods to modernize SOCAR’s Transport Fleet. As the result, hybrid cars were presented to SOCAR’s Transport Park. On 02.03.2017, 4 (four) hybrid cars were presented to SOCAR by UNDP within the NAMA project. The engines of these cars convert the energy produced by combustion into electrical energy. As the result of the use of such cars, fuel consumption and environmental pollution are much lower than conventional vehicles. As continuation of this work, the procedures for obtaining an “Eco-driving Simulator” to train drivers of SOCAR’s Transport Park are close to completion stage. It is planned to be used as an example to the private sector, as well as a pilot for the Energy Efficiency Strategy.
Meanwhile, Eco-driving training was conducted by an International Consultant for 12 selected SOCAR drivers. Local Experts also continue to train drivers, and to date, more than 80 drivers have been trained. It is to note that as the result of the activities, 10-15% savings in fuel consumption are expected, and up to 1,200 drivers will be trained annually in environmentally friendly driving. Meanwhile, under the third component of the Project, from the collection of associated gas released into the atmosphere during SOCAR’s oil and gas production, about 600 households with a population of 2,500 people in about 12 villages of Siyazan district will be provided with clean gas. In fact, activities on the collection and processing of associated gas in 63 wells in the Zagli-Zeyva field of the Siyazanneft OGPD have been started, and the project envisages the collection of 6.8 million cubic meters of associated gas per year.