“EU Environmental Policy, Gasification and the Role of Economic Relations with the Global South”
Science Week kicks off at UNEC
Within 5 days of Science Week, each of the five UNEC research centers will have discussions on topical issues according to their profile.
The first event within Science Week was organized by UNEC Center for European Economy. Along with the rector of UNEC, professor Adalat Muradov and the academic staff, the event was attended by the director of the Institute of Geography of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences named after Hasan Aliyev, academician Ramiz Mammadov, head of UNEC Center for European Economy Dr. Elkhan Richard Sadig-Zade and other guests.
Rector Adalat Muradov spoke about the work being done to transform UNEC into a research university.
He said that UNEC has established scientific journals and 70% of indicators in the Differential Wage System, which have been used for about 4 years to stimulate research, are related to scientific activity and according to articles published in prestigious scientific journals, royalties of up to 4,000 manat were set. Professor Adalat Muradov noted that there are two groups of lecturers at UNEC: lecturers engaged in pedagogical activity and research lecturers. He emphasized that the salary of the research lecturers would increase up to 50% than the others. Referring to the establishment of research centers specializing in different areas of research at UNEC , the rector said the main goal was to identify those with research potential and at the same time to attract Azerbaijani scientists living abroad to investigations realized at UNEC.
One of such research centers is UNEC Center for European Economy. The head of the center is a researcher at the University of Bochum Ruhr, Germany, a member of Energy Policy Research Group, a graduate of UNEC Dr. Elkhan Richard Sadigzadeh.
Then Dr. Elkhan Richard Sadig-Zadeh made a speech on “EU environmental policy, gasification and the role of economic relations with the Global South”. Describing the causes of environmental problems in Western Europe, the report cited industrialization and global climate change as key factors. The scientist analyzed the impact of the problem on developed and developing countries on the basis of mathematical and economic models. He said that global change would affect more and more developing tropical countries. It was pointed out that in the report that the pace of climate change for alternative and renewable energy sources was accelerating, which would lead to a reduction in emissions, and that developing countries should move to a low-carbon economy. The priorities of European environmental policy, as well as fiscal aspects of the transition from the underground energy sources in the EU to renewable energy sources were announced in the speech.
Sadiq-Zadeh spoke about the natural gas emissions and the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor project initiated by Azerbaijan. He said that the Balkan countries will be gasified on the basis of the project.
After the presentation, the questions of the participants on the interaction of ecology and economy, the impact of the “Dutch syndrome” on the economy, electro mobility, environmental impact of increasing electricity consumption and other questions were answered. It was noted that according to the UN report, Climate change affects 5 to 10% of GDP. Responding to the impact of the “Dutch syndrome” on the economy, the reporter noted that this factor had little effect on the global scale, but much effect on the local scale. E. Sadiq-zadeh said that the use of wind and solar energy as alternative sources of energy in the world had been expanded and the use of electric cars would increase in the future.
Academician Ramiz Mammadov who made a speech at the event noted that 60% of drought in the country had been observed recently. Emphasizing that water security in Azerbaijan is one of the main problems on a global scale, the academician said that targeted measures were taken to increase water resources and new water sources.
At the end, Rector Adalat Muradov said that analysis of the issue would be carried out and a package of proposals would be prepared.