EU increases cash offer to poor countries in deadlocked climate talks

BAKU: The European Union on Saturday (Nov 23) raised rich nations’ offer of aid to poor countries most affected by climate change to US$300 billion a year, in a bid to salvage talks the developing world has warned are on the verge of collapse.

As two-week-old UN climate talks dragged into an extra day, negotiators worked through the night seeking a compromise in a windowless sports stadium in the Caspian Sea city of Baku.

In what will be the hottest year ever recorded, developing countries are bearing the brunt of increasing droughts and disasters On Friday, initial proposal for US$250 billion annually by 2035 was rejected.

The EU is urging rich countries, including the United States, Britain and Japan, to raise that sum to $300 billion, two negotiators said.

But this came with conditions in other parts of the world. A broader climate agreement is being discussed at the COP29 conference negotiators in Azerbaijan added.

Europeans in particular want an annual review of global efforts to phase out fossil fuels, which are the main drivers of global warming.

This has faced opposition from Saudi Arabia, which has sought to soften its promise at last year’s COP28 of a landmark transition away from oil, gas and coal.

Irish Climate Minister Eamon Ryan said he was “hopeful” for a deal but that a clearer picture would emerge later in the day, when a new text is expected.

“We need to reach an agreement. This is really important to give hope to the world, to ensure that multilateralism can work and to respond to the climate crisis,” Ryan told AFP.

He said it was recognized that more money was needed for developing countries, but we also needed to end the advancement of fossil fuels.

Ali Mohamed, chairman of the African Negotiators’ Group, told AFP there had been “good discussions” on finance after the initial $250 billion offer, which he described as “a huge mockery”.

He said developing countries had made it clear that lack of action “will lead to the failure of the COP.”

“No deal is better than a bad deal,” he said.