They're here to finance climate action. But COP29 is more about bickering.

Ambitious climate action often requires ambitious financing — be it a clean energy transition project or helping developing countries mitigate the effects of natural disasters. 

But as extreme weather becomes more the norm and temperatures rise across the planet, what is supposed to be a critical year for funding mitigation efforts has instead turned out to be an especially frustrating one. 

Nearly 50,000 people from 200 countries — including, for the first time, the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan — were in Azerbaijan for this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference, with the goal of reaching a critical deal on climate finance. The conference was set to end Friday but negotiations over funding extended into the weekend.

A draft of a deal to help the world adapt to and deal with climate change released at the conference, known as COP29, pledged $250 billion annually by 2035 from wealthy countries to poorer ones. While rich nations say it's realistic and about the limit of what they can do, it is less than a quarter of the number requested by developing nations struck hardest by extreme weather.

The conference was already shadowed by the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement climate change treaty the first time he was president and has vowed to do so again. The atmosphere had also been dampened by poor attendance by world leaders, particularly from wealthy nations.

Developing countries are seeking $1 trillion a year by the end of the decade, much of it from developed economies, to transition to green energy and adapt to extreme weather driven by climate change.

As the World Meteorological Organization says 2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record, some