Poor countries urged to water down climate cash demands

Poor countries may have to compromise on key demands for cash to tackle global heating, a former UN climate envoy has said, as UN talks entered their final hours in stalemate.

- Fiona Harvey Baku

In comments that are likely to disappoint poorer countries at the Cop29 summit, Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and twice a UN climate envoy, said rich country budgets were "stretched" amid inflation, the aftermath of Covid, and conflicts including the Ukraine war.

"It's finance, and it's absolutely vital, and it's the responsibility of the developed world," she told the Guardian in an interview. "But you can't squeeze what isn't squeezable."

Rich countries have yet to make any formal offer of finance to the poor world by last night, even as two weeks of talks stretched into their final official day today. The summit is focused on finding $1tn a year for poor nations to shift to a low-carbon economy and cope with the impacts of extreme weather.