COP29 climate talks urged to find $1 trillion a year for poorer countries

Amid tense political disputes, COP29 in Baku grapples with raising $1 trillion in climate finance to support vulnerable nations. Argentina's delegation withdrawal and friction between developed and developing countries add pressure to reach a consensus on funding goals.

Countries at the COP29 summit have been trying to agree on how to raise up to $1 trillion in climate finance for the world's most vulnerable, as political tensions overshadowed the talks and Argentina on Thursday pulled its delegation from Baku.

The success of this year's United Nations climate summit hinges on whether countries can agree on a new finance target for richer countries, development lenders and the private sector to deliver each year. Developing countries need at least $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade to cope with climate change, economists told the U.N. talks.

Many countries have said that money is essential to their setting ambitious climate goals ahead of next year's COP30 in Brazil.

But reaching a deal could be tough at this year's summit, where the mood has been soured by public disagreements and pessimism about shifts in global politics.

Donald Trump's presidential election win has cast the United States' future role in climate talks into doubt, and tension between developed and developing nations has bubbled to the surface on the main stages and in negotiating rooms.

"Parties must remember that the clock is ticking," COP29 Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev told a news conference.

The previous annual finance goal of $100 billion expires this year. But wealthy countries only met the pledge in full starting in 2022.

Early Thursday, a report from the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance said the target annual figure would need to rise to at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 if countries fail to act now.
 

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