There’s the normal hypocrisy, then there’s John “(there’s private jets) “The only option for someone like me,” Kerry’s hypocrisy – but it all pales in comparison to the hypocrisy of the UN. The private and jumbo jets ferrying delegates to Baku, the idling sedans and limousines, the steak dinners and caviar, the belief that climate concerns are real He makes fun of all kinds of claims.

In reality, the annual environmental conference is a glorification of tourism disguised as activism. Nothing happens in Baku that the UN couldn’t accomplish online and in video breakout sessions, at a fraction of the cost and carbon footprint.

The same goes for almost every UN conference. UN employees usually fly first class or business class. If the UN goes online, it can reduce not only travel costs but also administrative costs. Guterres and his top aides can spend less time on the road and more time focusing on reform and efficient operations. After all, they rarely say anything beyond the predictable pabulum they can convey from a distance.

The UN’s penchant for conferences also has implications for human rights. Azerbaijan is one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships today, with freedoms on par with the Taliban’s Afghanistan, according to Freedom House. It’s not North Korea yet, but it’s getting closer every year.

Azerbaijan offered to host COP29 for cynical reasons. In part, the Aliyev regime, which owns many hotels, directly profits from filling these hotels. Part of Azerbaijan’s offer was about deviation. Azerbaijan is a polluting oil state that lags behind neighboring Armenia and Georgia in protecting the environment. President Ilham Aliyev also hoped to use the conference to recreate Azerbaijan and change the issue from the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, the imprisonment and torture of the region’s elected leaders, and the persecution of Christians.

Opening the COP29 summit on November 12, Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan’s choice to host internationally “is a sign of respect for our country and appreciation of our active role in the international arena.” This is wishful thinking, of course, and an indication of how dictators cynically use the UN to whitewash their human rights records. If Guterres wanted to disguise himself as a protector of human rights, he would demand that all candidates host UN talks, first emptying their political prisons.

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On November 22, COP29 delegates will publish their final statements. They will pat themselves on the back. Many will board private jets home. Within a few days, all but a few people will forget about the document. Aliyev will become tens of millions of dollars richer, and both environmental and human rights violations will increase as Aliyev believes that the false patina of environmental stewardship gives him scope for further abuses without consequences.

Moving environmental conferences online would put an end to the UN’s climate hypocrisy and could serve as a test to restrict the UN’s jet-setting movement and shrink the administrative bureaucracy that supports this lifestyle. The best legacy of COP29 will not be its final declaration, but the announcement that this will be the UN’s last mass conference.

Michael Rubin is a contributor Washington Comptroller Beltway Privacy. He is director of analysis at the Middle East Forum and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.