Cop29 deal criticised as a 'death sentence for millions'

Campaigners have hit out at a "woefully inadequate" financial package for developing nations agreed at Cop29 - with one charity condemning it as a "death sentence for millions".

- KATE DEVLIN

A $300bn (£239.5bn) deal to help combat the impact of global warming was announced at the summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. It falls far short of the $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, but is three times the $100bn a year deal from 2009 that is expiring.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell hailed it as an “insurance policy” for humanity, while UK energy secretary Ed Miliband described it as a “critical 11th-hour deal at the 11th hour for the climate”.

But Christian Aid said people who needed a life raft had been given a plank of wood instead. And the charity WaterAid said it was a “death sentence for millions” and a “mere fraction” of what was needed.

Lesley Pories, lead policy analyst for WaterAid, said: “While experts touted needs around one trillion dollars annually for the new collective quantified goal [NCQG], an agreement for $300bn was reached – a mere fraction of the finance we all know is desperately needed.”

They said that from hurricanes and flash flooding to wildfires and worsening drought, the global water crisis was a “growing tragedy” and that it was “deeply shameful that … governments could not set aside their differences for the sake of the most vulnerable”.