Poor nations slam R5.4trn deal

Wealthy polluters agree to chip in on climate costs.

The world approved a bitterly negotiated climate deal yesterday, but poorer nations most at the mercy of worsening disasters dismissed a $300 billion (about R5.4 trillion) a year pledge from wealthy historic polluters as insultingly low.

After two exhausting weeks of chaotic bargaining and sleepless nights, nearly 200 nations banged through the contentious finance pact in the early hours in a sports stadium in Azerbaijan.

But the applause had barely subsided when India delivered a full-throated rejection of the "abysmally poor" deal, kicking off a firestorm of criticism from across the developing world.

"It's a paltry sum," thundered India's delegate Chandni Raina.