Environmental negotiators at the U.N.’s COP29 climate alarmism summit issued their once and final demand Sunday for a $300 billion a year pledge from wealthy countries to gift poorer countries between now and 2035.
Climate doomers quickly wailed that was not nearly enough and demanded more – much more – to take the sum to $400 billion at least.
COP29, formally the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the 19th edition of the U.N.’s official assembly to discuss how to address the alleged global climate crisis.
Around 50,000 people flew in from around the world for the two-week talkfest.
AFP reports some 200 nations pushed through the contentious finance pact at the meeting in the early hours in a sports stadium in Azerbaijan.
But the applause had barely subsided when India roared its rejection of the “abysmally poor” deal, igniting a firestorm of criticism from across the developing world.
“It’s a paltry sum,” thundered India’s delegate Chandni Raina. “This document is little more than an optical illusion. This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face.”
Sierra Leone’s climate minister Jiwoh Abdulai said it showed a “lack of goodwill” from rich countries to stand by the world’s poorest as they confront rising seas and harsher droughts.
Nigeria’s envoy Nkiruka Maduekwe put it even more bluntly: “This is an insult.”
The AFP report notes some countries had accused Azerbaijan, an oil and gas exporter, of lacking the will to meet the moment in a year defined by costly climate disasters and on track to become the hottest on record.
The agreement commits developed nations to pay at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help developing countries cut emissions and prepare for worsening disasters.
It falls short of the $390 billion that economists commissioned by the United Nations had deemed a fair share contribution by developed nations.
COP29 took place in the shadow of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the move will doubtless see him repeat his scepticism of the entire “save the world” mantra of environmental doomers and activists.
Trump has pledged to once again withdraw the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement.
