‘It’s a joke’: $250bn climate finance offer met with scorn at COP29

Vulnerable nations are seeking $1.3 trillion annually to deal with the damage caused by climate change and to adapt.

Negotiations at the COP29 climate conference have extended into overtime after an offer by wealthy countries to provide $250bn a year in climate financing for developing countries was roundly rejected.

The presidency of the global talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, released a draft finance deal on Friday, which it insisted was a result of “an extensive and inclusive consultation process”.

It said developed countries would provide $250bn annually by 2035 to developing or poor nations to deal with damage from climate change and to adapt to that change.

But the figure, which came as a modest upgrade to the $100bn annual pledge that was agreed 15 years ago and is ending this year, angered many representatives of developing countries who said their rich counterparts are refusing to take responsibility for the climate crisis they have caused. Vulnerable nations are seeking $1.3 trillion annually.

The annual two weeks of United Nations climate talks were scheduled to end at 6pm (14:00 GMT) on Friday, but the negotiations were continuing into the evening with little sign of an agreement in sight.

Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, the representative for Panama, described the $250bn offer as “outrageous” and said it is a “spit on the face of vulnerable nations like mine”.

Similar expressions of indignation, disappointment and concern came from envoys of other countries from across the globe, including some of the island nations that would likely be first to fall victim to rising sea levels and other adverse impacts of climate change.

There was also no guarantee that the money, which is expected to be raised by both governments