Sawt Falasteen - Nations race to land climate deal as COP29 draft rejected

The UN climate summit is scheduled to conclude on Friday but the latest draft deal released by hosts Azerbaijan was spurned by rich and poor countries alike.

The main priority at COP29 is agreeing a new target to replace the $100 billion a year that rich nations pledged for poorer ones to fight climate change.

Developing countries plus China, an influential negotiating bloc, are pushing for $1.3 trillion by 2030 and want at least $500 billion of that from developed nations.

Major contributors like the European Union have baulked at such demands, and insist private sector money would be needed to meet a larger goal.

The latest draft recognises that developing countries need a commitment of at least "USD [X] trillion" per year, but omits the concrete figure sought in Baku.

"There is a critical piece of this puzzle missing: the overall number," said Cedric Schuster, the Samoan chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a group of nations at threat from rising seas.

"The time for political games is over."

Ali Mohamed, the chair of the African Group of Negotiators, another important bloc, said the "elephant in the room" was the figure.

"This is the reason we are here... but we are no closer and we need the developed countries to urgently engage on this matter," said Mohamed, who is also Kenya's climate envoy.

COP29 hosts Azerbaijan said a "shorter" draft would be unveiled Thursday evening and would "contain numbers".

- 'Unacceptable' -

Other major sticking points -- including who contributes and how the money is raised and delivered -- were also left unresolved in the slimmed-down 10-page document.

Many nations also said the text failed to reflect the need to phase out coal, oil and gas -- the main drivers of global warming.

Australian climate minister Chris Bowen said countries had "hidden, pared back or minimised" explicit references to fossil fuels.

"This is a big step back, and is not acceptable at this current moment of crisis," he said.

As the clock ticks down, frustration boiled over at the COP29 hosts.

"Could I please -- could I please -- urge you to step up the leadership?" EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said in pointed remarks.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm really sorry to say, but the text we now have in front of us -- in our view -- is imbalanced, unworkable and unacceptable."

COP29 lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev appealed for "compromise and solidarity".

"This is a moment where you need to put all your cards on the table," he told delegates, stressing there was "a long way to go".

Ireland's climate minister Eamon Ryan insisted negotiations were "advancing" behind the scenes.

"This text is not the final text, that is clear. It will be quite radically different. But I think there is room for further agreement," he told AFP.

Norway's climate minister also offered a rosier view: "The deadline isn't here yet," he told AFP.

- 'Blank paper' -

Landing a deal on finance for poorer countries was meant to be the centrepiece of COP29.

But the draft entrenches the broad and opposing positions of developed and developing countries that have largely persisted since COP29 opened over a week ago.

Developed countries want all sources of finance, including public money and private investment, counted toward the goal, and for wealthy countries not obligated to pay, like China, to chip in.

Developing countries want the money to mostly come from government budgets of richer nations in the form of grants or money without strings attached, not loans that add to national debt.

The EU and the United States, two of the biggest providers of climate finance, have refused to put forward a figure without the finer points of the pact.

That was an "insult" for the millions of people imperilled by climate disaster, said Greenpeace's Jasper Inventor.

Mohamed Adow, a Kenyan climate activist, said developing countries "need a cheque but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper".

E.Aziz--SF-PST