Wealthy nations ‘scramble’ for climate funding deal

AFP | Baku, Azerbaijan

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Key nations raced yesterday to salvage UN climate talks after the poorest countries pushed back angrily for more than $300 billion a year in help from historic wealthy emitters.

More than a day past the scheduled conclusion of two weeks of COP29 talks, host Azerbaijan urged bleary-eyed delegates to seek consensus to avoid failure.

"I know that none of us want to leave Baku without a good outcome," COP president Mukhtar Babayev told a late-night session, urging all nations to "bridge the remaining divide".

Developing power Brazil pleaded for at least some progress and said it would seek to build on it when it leads COP30 next year in the Amazon gateway of Belem.

"After the difficult experience that we're having here in Baku, we need to reach some outcome that is minimally acceptable in line with the emergency we're facing," Brazil's environment minister Marina Silva told delegates.

A number of nations have accused Azerbaijan, an authoritarian oil and gas exporter, of lacking the experience and will to meet the moment, as the planet again sets record temperatures and faces rising deadly disasters.

Small island nations threatened by rising seas and impoverished African states yesterday angrily stormed out of a meeting with Azerbaijan, saying their concerns had been ignored.

The European Union, United States and other wealthy countries met directly with poorer nations to work out final details, with both blocs also concerned at efforts led by Saudi Arabia to water down calls from last year's summit to phase out fossil fuels.

"If we don't do it, people at home - in every home across the world - would say, why did you not get an agreement? Because I believe we can," Irish climate minister Eamon Ryan told AFP.