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Wealthy nations on Friday offered $250 billion a year to help poorer nations hit hardest by global warming but faced immediate calls led by Africa to give more as UN climate negotiations extended into overtime.
At the COP29 talks in Azerbaijan, developing nations are demanding a bigger commitment from historic polluters most responsible for warming, but rich countries insist that massive financial pledges are not politically realistic.
In a draft text revealed hours before two weeks of fraught bargaining were set to end, Azerbaijan said wealthy nations had committed to providing $250 billion a year by 2035.
The text also sets an ambitious overall target to raise at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 from not only developed countries but the private sector.
But a red line for many climate-imperiled nations at COP29 had been securing a new commitment from developed nations well above their existing pledge of $100 billion a year.
The new target “is totally unacceptable and inadequate”, said Ali Mohamed, chair of the African Group of Negotiators.
“$250 billion will lead to unacceptable loss of life in Africa and around the world, and imperils the future of our world,” he said.
