COP-29 could not escape the US election's impact

The $300 billion pledged by rich countries as climate funding is grossly insufficient. True, Trump's US may revert to climate scepticism, but others must try harder to mobilize funds

The CoP-29 climate summit at Baku closed with a measly deal that has deeply disappointed the developing world and civil society in developed countries. So much so that the T spokesperson for the Indian delegation to the annual series of UN-mandated climate talks called the final agreement an "optical illusion." India's voice matters at such forums and our delegates make sure it is heard loud and clear. And no global issue burns more fiercely than climate change and a fair sharing of the response burden. Sadly for most of the world, the rich nations that are almost wholly responsible for causing climate change-China and India, among the top five carbon emitters today, industrialized much later-agreed to pledge just $300 billion annually till 2035 as funds for poorer countries to fight global warming and secure themselves from its fallout. This is thrice the $100-billion-per-year promise of CoP-15 till 2020, which went largely unfulfilled, but still $1 trillion short of the overall need estimated.