Negotiations Over climate finance remain deadlocked at UN summit

With just days remaining at the COP29 climate talks in Baku, negotiations over climate finance remain deadlocked, with developed and developing nations still far apart on both the scale of funding and its fundamental structure, even as Argentina's withdrawal from the talks casts a shadow over global climate cooperation.

- Jayashree Nandi

The latest draft text on the new collective quantified goal (NCQG), released on Saturday evening, shows little progress despite four revisions and extensive overnight consultations. "The developed countries have slowed down progress. We do not have a number yet on the table which is worrying," a negotiator told HT, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The 25-page document—trimmed from an earlier 34-page version—maintains the wide gulf between proposed funding amounts, ranging from a modest $100 billion floor to an ambitious $2 trillion annually. While it clearly states the funding is "exclusively for all developing countries", the framework and implementation remain heavily contested.

A new report by the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, co-chaired by economists Amar Bhattacharya, Vera Songwe and Nicholas Stern, suggests the Baku deal should deliver a commitment to mobilise $1 trillion annually by 2030 for emerging markets and developing countries (excluding China), scaling up to $1.3 trillion by 2035.

"The text is now going to the COP29 Presidency to be taken up for further negotiations. It will be a very difficult task now to get parties to agree to quantum by cutting down options, sub-options and brackets," another developing country negotiator said.

Reform calls and resistance

Against this backdrop, the Club of Rome, a non-profit advocacy collective, issued a stark warning about the COP process itself. In an open letter co-signed by prominent figures including former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and former UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres, the group called for fundamental reforms.