The United Nations climate talks in Azerbaijan were teetering on the brink of collapse as delegations prepared to fly home and countries remained at loggerheads over issues ranging from finance to emissions.
Negotiators from rich and poorer nations were cooped up in a room in the COP29 venue Baku Olympic Stadium for two hours on Saturday afternoon, going through a draft deal line by line in a process that only underscored their deep divisions.
Island nations and least developed countries left early, walking briskly out of the session with stern faces to huddle over their position — signalling how much the talks had frayed a full day after they were supposed to have concluded. Nearby climate activists shouted, “No deal is better than a bad deal.”
In an effort to get an agreement over the line, the US and EU negotiators had proposed that developed nations increase a funding commitment to US$300 billion ($403.98 billion) a year, triple the current annual pledge that’s due to expire in 2025, people familiar with the matter said.
Yet the same people raised concerns that Saudi Arabia and other members of the Arab group and the Like Minded Developing Countries coalition were continuing to push back on any references to the outcome of last year’s COP28 in Dubai, which included a commitment to transition away from fossil fuels.
Deep divides
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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed frustration with the progress in an audio statement over WhatsApp. “We are in the middle of a geopolitical power play by a few fossil fuels states,” she said. “They are playing on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable countries.”
Many negotiators said the Azeri COP29 presidency was at risk of losing control of the process, with dozens of delegations due to leave in the coming hours.
Cedric Shuster, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said his group had “presently removed” themselves from the finance discussions, “which were not offering a progressive way forward.”
See also: COP29 ends with deal on climate finance after bitter fight
“We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be inclusive,” he said in a statement. “If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”
A draft released before the summit’s scheduled close on Friday called for rich nations to offer US$250 billion annually by 2035. It received immediate pushback from developing and vulnerable nations who have insisted far more money is needed to deal with the consequences of decades of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions.
The closed-door talks are still trying to work out the make-up of the core multibillion-dollar funding commitment, including the role of multilateral development banks, the people said, asking not to be named because the negotiations aren’t public. There’s also still discussions on how countries such as China and Saudi Arabia should play a role in providing climate finance overall, they said.
China said earlier this week it would only contribute climate finance voluntarily and did not want it included in COP29 pledge commitments.
Late nights
Negotiators had already worked throughout the night Friday to try and hammer out a deal that will see wealthy nations provide funding to poorer countries to build green economies and resilience to global warming. Tense negotiations over the past two weeks in Baku have often spilled into the open as different sides tried to bridge deep divisions.
Members of country delegations were spotted sprawled on lounge chairs at Baku’s stadium in the early hours of Saturday as they tried to catch quick naps between meetings. Many negotiators said they worked until dawn before taking one-hour breaks to freshen up for another intense day of talks.
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The main goal of this year’s negotiations is to replace an existing annual US$100 billion climate finance pledge with one delivering far more to help poorer nations.
Even if a new proposal goes as high as US$300 billion, many in the developing world will still be dissatisfied. Countries in the Global South have said their requirements to combat rising temperatures and restructure their economies run into the trillions of dollars a year.
The draft released Friday also called for total funding of at least US$1.3 trillion annually — the bulk of it in private financing — by the middle of the next decade. Negotiators are still waiting for an updated proposal to be released by the COP29 presidency on Saturday.
Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, Panama’s special representative for climate change, put the blame for the disarray on the presidency, but said offers by the rich nations are still inadequate.
“If needs are US$1.3 trillion for money flows from rich to poor, then US$300 billion is crumbs,” he said.
