By Faridat Salifu
Sharp disagreements over a trillion-dollar global climate deal rattled the Cop29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, as wealthy and developing nations clashed over who should shoulder the financial burden.
Talks over the issue, originally scheduled to conclude on Friday, extended late into the weekend amid disputes over how much rich countries should contribute to the $1.3 trillion annual climate funding needed to tackle the crisis.
Wealthier nations, including the US, UK, and EU members, proposed contributing just $300 billion of the total, with the remainder to be sourced from private investors and potential new taxes.
However, developing nations pushed back, arguing that this would not be enough to address the scale of the problem.
Representatives from African countries, including Kenya’s climate envoy, Ali Mohamed, called for grants and low-interest loans from wealthy countries, urging that $600 billion of the total fund should come from the developed world.
“Anything lower than that will not help the world tackle climate change,” he stated.
Tensions reached a boiling point on Saturday afternoon, with some of the world’s poorest countries walking out of a critical meeting, threatening to derail the negotiations.
Mohamed Adow, director of the think tank Power Shift Africa, condemned the rich nations for failing to honor past promises, saying that the walkouts signaled a moral crisis in the negotiations.
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The talks also saw accusations of sabotage, with Saudi Arabia in particular facing criticism for attempting to alter key texts without proper consultation.
Environmental leaders like Ireland’s Eamon Ryan and Germany’s Annalena Baerbock blamed fossil fuel interests for disrupting progress.
Baerbock lashed out at the host country, Azerbaijan, accusing it of siding with fossil fuel-producing nations, which are largely responsible for climate change.
Key elements of the deal, including a transition away from fossil fuels, which was a central theme of the previous year’s Cop28 conference, appeared at risk of being postponed.
This has led to frustration from both rich and poor countries, who fear that the annual turnover of the conference presidency is allowing some nations to weaken previously made commitments.
Romain Ioulalaen, from the pressure group Oil Change International, warned that Saudi Arabia and other oil-dependent nations were using obstructionist tactics to undermine the landmark agreements reached at Cop28.
Though the US and China, the world’s largest emitters, played a less prominent role at this summit, there were signs of potential compromise, particularly from China, which signaled willingness to voluntarily contribute to climate finance.
As negotiations continued late into the night, many observers remained hopeful that an agreement could still be reached.
However, Harjeet Singh, from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, emphasized that true progress would only be achieved if the deal delivered tangible support for vulnerable communities at the frontline of the climate crisis.
– Abridged from The Guardian.
