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World reaches $300 bn climate finance deal at COP29
The world approved a bitterly negotiated climate deal Sunday committing wealthy historic polluters to $300 billion annually for poor and vulnerable nations that had demanded far more to confront the crisis of global warming.
After two exhaustive weeks of chaotic bargaining and sleepless nights, nearly 200 nations banged through the contentious finance pact in the early hours beneath a sports stadium roof in Azerbaijan.
Nations had struggled to reconcile long-standing divisions over climate finance. Sleep-deprived diplomats, huddled in anxious groups, were still revising the final phrasing on the plenary floor before the deal passed.
At points, the talks appeared on the brink of collapse, with developing nations storming out of meetings and threatening to walk away should rich nations not cough up more cash.
In the end -- despite repeating that no deal is better than a bad deal -- they did not stand in the way of an agreement, despite it falling well short of what they want.
The final deal commits developed nations to pay at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help developed countries green their economies and prepare for worse disasters.
That is up from $100 billion now provided by wealthy nations under a commitment set to expire -- and from the $250 billion proposed in a draft Friday.
That offer was slammed as offensively low by developing countries, which have demanded at least $500 billion to build resilience against climate change and cut emissions.
A number of countries have accused Azerbaijan, an authoritarian oil and gas exporter, of lacking the experience and will to meet the moment, as the planet again sets temperature records and faces rising deadly disasters.
Wealthy countries and small island nations have also been concerned by efforts led by Saudi Arabia to water down calls from last year's summit to phase out fossil fuels.
The United States and EU have wanted newly wealthy emerging economies like China -- the world's largest emitter -- to chip in.
The final draft encouraged developing countries to make contributions on a voluntary basis, reflecting no change for China which already pays climate finance on its own terms.
Wealthy nations said it was politically unrealistic to expect more in direct government funding.
Donald Trump, a sceptic of both climate change and foreign assistance, returns to the White House in January and a number of other Western countries have seen right-wing backlashes against the green agenda.
The deal posits a larger overall target of $1.3 trillion per year to cope with rising temperatures and disasters, but most would come from private sources.
O.Ouellet--SMC
