Cop29 summit Bitter battles could follow controversial $300bn a year deal

It was only on the last scheduled day of two weeks of negotiations at the UN Cop29 climate summit that developed countries put a financial commitment on the table for the first time.

- Fiona Harvey BAKU

In reality, this offer took not just two weeks of talks to prepare, but nine years - since article 9 of the Paris agreement in 2015 made it clear that the rich industrialised world would be obliged to supply cash to developing countries to help them tackle the climate crisis.

When it finally arrived last Friday, the initial offer of $250bn a year by 2035 was widely derided as too low. Early the following morning, the countries upped the figure to $300bn, which ended up being accepted, albeit amid acrimony and cries of "betrayal".

Even in signing the deal, rich countries prevaricated - the money could come not just in the form of the grants and very low-interest loans that developing countries need, but some could also come from a "wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral and alternative sources". Money will be "mobilised" rather than provided - a nice distinction that allows for the inclusion of private sector coinvesting to be counted alongside public money from government budgets and development banks.

Plus, rich countries will only have to "lead" in supplying this - some of the cash could come from big emerging economies, such as China or South Korea, or even petrostates such as the United Arab Emirates. And the headline figure of $1.3tn a year for developing countries by 2035 relies on the $300bn being supplemented with a much higher amount of private sector investment, and "innovative" forms of finance such as new taxes on fossil fuels and frequent flyers, none of which are close to being in place.