An eleventh hour proposal from a UN climate summit to channel $250bn to developing nations has fallen far short of the $1.3trn they need to cope with climate change.
The draft deal from the COP29 climate summit is likely to dismay vulnerable nations like Kenya, Uganda and Malawi, which are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change they did little to cause.
Developing countries have hinted they are unwilling to accept anything less than $500bn.
But tight public finances in wealthier countries as well as a swing to the right in some places makes that a hard sell back home.
The existing funding target of $100bn expires at the end of 2025.
Countries are keen to agree something at this COP rather than leave it to next year, when president-elect Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the US from global climate efforts, making a fraught process even harder.
The proposal from today is to scale up to $250bn a year by 2035, but gives a nod to the fact ideally $1.3trn is needed.
A senior U.S. official said $250 billion will “require even more ambition and extraordinary reach” than already exists to meet the current lower goal.
It only gently “invites” developing countries to also contribute, which will please countries like China and Saudi Arabia who have fiercely rejected calls from the US and EU to be obliged to pay in.
Former UK negotiator Stephen Cornelius, now with WWF UK, said developed countries will likely be happier with the draft than the developing countries.
“And I expect that there’ll be some fireworks later on in the plenary off the back of it.”
The numbers and plans in the text may well change in the coming hours as countries battle over the details.
The draft deal was released on Friday afternoon Baku time by host nation Azerbaijan, with just hours left on the clock, fuelling anger with the host country for moving far too slowly.
Mohamed Adow, who runs thinktank Power Shift Africa, said: “This COP presidency is one of the…
