AZERBAIJAN – Richer countries have promised to raise their funding to help poorer countries fight climate change to a record $300bn (£238bn) a year, but the deal is facing recriminations from the developing world. The talks at the UN climate summit COP29 in Azerbaijan ran 33 hours late, and came within inches of collapse.

The agreement falls well short of the $1.3tr developing countries were pushing for. The African Group of Negotiators described the final pledge as “too little, too late”, while the representative from India dismissed the money as “a paltry sum”. But after two weeks of often bitter negotiations in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, poorer nations did not stand in the way of a deal.

The promise of more money is a recognition that developing nations bear a disproportionate burden from climate change, but also have historically contributed the least to climate change. The head of the UN climate body, Simon Stiell, conceded that the agreement was far from perfect. “No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do,” he said in a statement.

The deal was announced at 03:00 local time on Sunday (23:00 GMT on Saturday). As well $300bn (£238bn) a year by 2035, it promises efforts to raise $1.3tn a year from both public and private sources by that date.  The announcement was met with cheers and applause, but a furious speech from India showed that intense frustration remained. “The amount that is proposed to be mobilised is abysmally poor. It’s a paltry sum,” Leela Nandan told the conference.

The chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, Cedric Schuster, said: “Our islands are sinking. How can you expect us to go back to the women, men, and children of our countries with a poor deal?”. The funds pledged are expected to help poorer countries move away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy such as wind and solar power. There was also a commitment to tripling the money going towards preparing countries for climate change. Historically, only 40% of the funding available for climate change has gone towards this. This year – which is now “virtually certain” to be the warmest on record – has been punctuated by intense heatwaves and deadly storms. (BBC)