BAKU, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Countries agreed to a hard-fought COP29 deal to provide $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035.
But while some delegates reacted to the agreement's early Sunday with a standing ovation, others voiced anger and lambasted wealthy nations for not doing more.
Here are some of their comments:
U.N. FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY SIMON STIELL
"It has been a difficult journey, but we've delivered a deal. This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
"This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing and protect billions of lives. It will help all countries to share in the huge benefits of bold climate action: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all.
"But like any insurance policy – it only works – if the premiums are paid in full, and on time. No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps."
INDIA REPRESENTATIVE CHANDNI RAINA
"We are disappointed in the outcome which clearly brings out the unwillingness of the developed country parties to fulfil their responsibilities."
"I regret to say that this document is nothing more than an optical illusion. This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face. Therefore, we oppose the adoption of this document,"
U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES
"I had hoped for a more ambitious outcome – on both finance and mitigation – to meet the great challenge we face. But this agreement provides a base on which to build. It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash."
BOLIVIA REPRESENTATIVE DIEGO PACHECO BALANZA (speaking via a translator)
"We need a finance which will properly grant us the resources we need to take steps. The finance that is hugely below our requirements is an insult and it is a flagrant violation of justice and climate equity.
"Climate finance, as it stands in this agreement, is extinguishing international cooperation. We are moving on from the time of leaving of no-one behind to an era of let every man save himself."
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Some changes are immediately visible: new turbines on the steppe, solar panels on rooftops, and figures in reports. Other changes mature in silence - but transform everything. Azerbaijan, for decades associated with black gold, is now writing a new chapter.
Azerbaijani non-governmental organisations have called on U.S. President Donald Trump to reject an appeal by the U.S.-based Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. The appeal urges Washington to pressure Azerbaijan to release detainees of Armenian origin, including Ruben Vardanyan.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has formally recognised Azerbaijan’s strong organisation and effective delivery of COP29, paving the way for deeper cooperation and the involvement of Azerbaijani specialists in future global climate initiatives.
On September 1, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu in Tianjin, China, to strengthen economic, trade, and tourism ties between the two nations.
Hungarians vote in elections on Sunday that could see the end of hard right nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s more than 15 year rule. Opinion polls show Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing 45-year-old Péter Magyar’s centre-right opposition Tisza party.
U.S. and Iranian negotiators held their highest-level talks in half a century in Pakistan on Saturday in an effort to end their six-week war, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. military had begun the process of clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
At least 30 people were killed on Saturday in a stampede at Haiti’s Laferrière Citadel World Heritage Site, with authorities warning that the death toll could rise.
Israel has reprimanded Spain’s most senior diplomat in Tel Aviv after a giant effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blown up in a Spanish town.
Nine suspects were arrested on Saturday (11 April) in connection with a terror attack targeting a police post in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district.
Communities in Mexico have taken to the streets to protest against an ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has killed wildlife and damaged coral reefs over several weeks.
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China is preparing for a year of extreme weather in 2026, with authorities warning the country could face both severe flooding and widespread drought, underscoring mounting climate pressures.
Heavy rain, flash floods and lightning strikes across Afghanistan have killed 28 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in Kabul, Herat and other provinces.
Central Asia is stepping up efforts to address rapid glacier melt, following United Nations warnings of unprecedented climate pressure on mountain ecosystems.
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