BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. Cooperation and an integrated approach between countries must be strengthened to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate commitments, Member of the UK House of Lords, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, said during the 2026 Baku Climate Action Week (BCAW 2026), Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
She noted that the approach to development has shifted from a silo model of working in separate areas to an integrated, restorative, and comprehensive approach.
"We have changed the way we approach development issues. The best approach is an evidence-based approach. For this, we need data. But this data needs to be integrated because the fragmented approach we used before didn't show us the full picture of the situation," she said.
Scotland pointed out that the Commonwealth Organization has created an independent and collective review mechanism to assess the performance of different countries based on experience covering 56 countries.
"We have developed an independent collective review to assess good governance. We found that 80% of performance depends on the presence of a good system. This system is shaped by experience showing what works in different countries and how to build an integrated system," she emphasized.
According to her, the remaining 20% of performance depends on the human factor, and 80% of this is leadership.
"So even if you have good people, if your system is weak, you will not be able to achieve effective results. If you have good leaders and good systems, it's possible to achieve high results," Scotland said.
She added that the performance indicators of each of the Commonwealth countries in the areas of implementation of the SDGs, digital governance, green economy, and artificial intelligence were also analyzed.
"One of the biggest changes is that we no longer think of competition between countries. The real competition is against the threats that we face together. We understand that we have to do this together," she noted.
Scotland also stressed the importance of joint action by countries in the field of climate finance.
"We need to move from acting separately to integrated work and do it in a completely practical way. When we work together, when we combine our finances and resources, we can do more. We currently see billions of dollars of funds being used inefficiently," she said.
She cited an example of the work of the Commonwealth's Access to Climate Finance Center.
"We have managed to channel $594 million to member countries with $8.4 million. The main problem right now is that people say, 'There is money, but our countries cannot access it,'" Scotland stressed.
According to her, for this, it is important to strengthen capacity within countries, create favorable processes and develop projects that can be financed, that is, attractive to banks and funds.
Scotland noted that none of the applications submitted to the Adaptation Fund, the Green Climate Fund and other funds with the support of the Access to Climate Finance Center of the Commonwealth Organization have been unsuccessful.
"We already have a methodology and we can do it. But we must do it together. We must focus on successes and not think that it is impossible. We have the finance and we can create systems and tools that will help countries develop projects that can be financed," she added.
The third day of the Baku Climate Action Week 2026 (BCAW 2026) is underway.
The program of the third day will focus on issues such as the transition from climate commitments to concrete action, climate financing, youth participation in climate processes, artificial intelligence and climate technologies, energy efficiency, methane emissions reduction, water resources management, and cultural heritage protection.
Representatives of governments and international organizations, experts, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society from various countries are attending the events.
Now in its third year, Baku Climate Action Week is being held in parallel with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Climate Week for the first time this year. The Fourth Climate Week and Baku Climate Action Week will feature a series of sessions, panel discussions and other events on climate change, climate finance, sustainable development and accelerating climate action.
BCAW 2026 will continue until September 11.
