World News | Tension Boils over at COP29; Two Blocs of Vulnerable Nations Leave Negotiation Room Mid-way

Baku (Azerbaijan), Nov 23 (PTI) The annual UN climate talks were thrown into turmoil after two groups of the world's most vulnerable countries staged a walkout of the negotiation room on Saturday, protesting a draft agreement on a new climate finance package for the Global South.

Negotiators from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) walked out of the meeting of the heads of delegation, saying they were being "ignored" during consultations.

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The LDCs said they were not consulted on the draft which lacked a minimum financial allocation for them.

"We can't engage based on this text," one negotiator said.

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"We have presently removed ourselves from the stalled NCQG discussions, which were not offering a progressive way forward," the AOSIS said in a statement.

"Small Island Developing States and LDCs are among the very worst impacted by this climate crisis that we did not cause. Yet we have found ourselves continuously insulted by the lack of inclusion, our calls are being ignored," it read.

The LDCs and the SIDS demand that they should be given a minimum of USD 220 billion and USD 39 billion, respectively, from the total climate finance package.

Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege said the draft in its current form was an "affront to us".

"We are the countries that have the most at stake. As it stands, the package gives us nothing to protect ourselves as others continue to benefit at our expense," she said.

Other developing nations slammed the draft climate finance deal as "grossly insufficient" and "a joke".

The G77 group, the largest negotiating bloc representing over 130 developing countries, called for the draft to refer to Para 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, making it mandatory for developed nations to provide finance to developing countries.

They also demanded at least USD 500 billion in climate finance by 2035.

Brandon Wu, an expert from the US-based advocacy group Action Aid, said the US demanded the draft agreement should not refer to Para 1.

"This is the end game of the 10-year US strategy to exit from their obligation to provide climate finance to the global south," he said.

As the United States climate envoy John Podesta left the meeting room, civil society members lashed at him with cries of "Run away, you cowards!"

Colombia Environment Minister Susana Mohamed said the global north needed to "step up and deliver".

At the UN climate conference here, countries are required to reach an agreement on a new climate finance package or the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to help developing countries cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the warming world.

The summit was scheduled to conclude on Friday but spilt into overtime as developed nations only presented a concrete climate finance figure in the closing hours.

The USD 250 billion amount offered by the rich nations is a far cry from the trillions required to tackle the escalating climate emergency.

Developing nations have been demanding at least USD 1.3 trillion annually -- 13 times the USD 100 billion pledged in 2009 -- starting in 2025 to address their escalating climate challenges.

They said that a significant portion of this USD 1.3 trillion should come directly from public funding from developed countries.

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