Negotiators are working through the night at the UN climate talks to try to reach a financial agreement for poor countries

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BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – The United Nations’ annual climate talks went into overtime Saturday under a cloud of anger and disappointment as talks fell far short of a financial deal for developing countries to curb and adapt to climate change.

A draft of the final deal on Friday pledged $250 billion a year by 2035, more than double the previous $100 billion goal set 15 years ago but well short of the $1 trillion-plus that experts say is needed. On Saturday morning, the Associated Press saw leading negotiators from the European Union, the United States and other nations move through empty halls from meeting to meeting as delegates tried to hammer out a new type of agreement.

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“We’re still working hard,” US weatherman John Podesta told the AP at 4 a.m. local time.

The climate talks, called COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, were supposed to end on Friday. The workers have started dismantling the area where the talks will be held.

A climate finance agreement remains elusive in these negotiations

Rich countries are responsible for helping vulnerable countries under the agreement reached at the Paris talks in 2015. Developing nations are seeking $1.3 trillion to help deal with droughts, floods, rising seas and extreme heat, pay for losses and damage caused by extreme weather, and transition their energy systems from planet-warming fossil fuels to clean energy.

Representatives of other countries responsible for funding said the $250 billion climate finance figure was realistic and reflected their limitations at a time when their economies were expanding.

The amount in any agreement reached at the COP negotiations – often considered “total” – will then be pooled or used for major climate finance. But much of that means lending money to countries that are sinking into debt.

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But that meant little to vulnerable nations, many of whom were already suffering from severe weather made worse by emissions from the burning of fossil fuels that had nothing to do with them. Most of those exports come from developed countries since the Industrial Revolution.

“We expected it to be low, but this is a slap in the face,” said Mohamed Adow, from Power Shift Africa. “No developing country will fall for this. They have offended and provoked developing countries.”

Nikki Reisch, the director of the climate and energy program at the Center for International Environmental Law, said that this donation is unacceptable not only because the money is small, but because it is “really designed to escape the legal obligation that developed countries have” to pay for the climate change that caused them the most.

Activists continue to push for a more ambitious deal

Several activists marched silently outside the halls where delegates met late Friday, raising and crossing their arms in front of them to show their rejection of the draft text.

Red-eyed, sitting next to a cold pizza, a group of youth activists chatted to stay awake in one of the area’s main halls.

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“We’re all kind of grieving in one way or another,” said Jessica Dunne, with the Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth. This is his fourth COP, and along with other activists present, he is disappointed and very concerned about the current deal being offered. But the group said being out in the community lessens the painful feelings that come with the process, which Dunne calls “a big failure.”

“In these halls tonight, as we sit here talking, dancing, crying and laughing, it gives you hope that there will be another day to fight for,” he said. said.

“I’m really tired,” said Erica Njuguna, a Kenyan climate activist. “But we are holding the line, making sure that the COP brings people who are on the front line of the climate crisis. So far it hasn’t happened.”

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Associated Press reporter Joshua A. Bickel contributed to this report.

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