A new draft deal at UN climate talks today proposes that rich nations commit $250 billion a year to help poorer nations combat global warming in an 11th-hour bid to break the deadlocked negotiations.
African countries and climate activists quickly denounced the figure as "unacceptable" and inadequate to meet the realities of a rapidly warming world, but wealthy nations including the United States have insisted that massive packages are not politically realistic.
With the gathering scheduled to end later today, delegates from nearly 200 nations had eagerly awaited COP29 hosts Azerbaijan's new proposal after two weeks of fraught bargaining.
The text sets an ambitious overall target to raise at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 from not only the public money but also the private sector.
It is the first time concrete numbers were formally proposed at talks dominated by divisions over how to increase assistance for developing nations to cut emissions and adapt to climate change.
Developing countries were seeking a significant boost in the existing pledge that commits rich nations to $100 billion a year in climate finance.
"The proposed target to mobilise $250 billion per year by 2035 is totally unacceptable and inadequate to delivering the Paris Agreement," said Ali Mohamed, chairman of the African Group of Negotiators.
He said it would "lead to unacceptable loss of life in Africa and around the world, and imperils the future of our world."
"The $250 billion target is not enough -- not big enough, not fast enough, not good enough," said Friederike Roder from activist group Global Citizen.
"Inadequate, divorced from the reality of climate impacts and outrageously below the needs of developing countries," said Jasper Inventor from Greenpeace.
But the US, which President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pull out of climate diplomacy, signalled it was not looking to negotiate a higher figure.
"It has been a significant lift over the past decade to meet the prior, smaller goal. $250 billion will require even more ambition and extraordinary reach," said a senior US official, whose team in Baku comes from outgoing President Joe Biden's administration.
COP29 host Azerbaijan said the $250 billion reflected the submissions made by rich nations during the negotiations.
Azerbaijan said it would keep working on "final adjustments" on outstanding issues.
An influential negotiation bloc of 134 developing nations including China had pushed for at least $500 billion from developed countries.
But major contributors such as the European Union have said that private-sector money inevitably must play a part.
The EU also wanted newly wealthy emerging economies like China, the world's largest emitter, to contribute to the overall goal.
Azerbaijan, an authoritarian state that relies on oil and gas exports, has been accused of lacking the experience and bandwidth to steer such large and complex negotiations.
"This is the worst COP in recent memory," Mohamed Adow, speaking for the Climate Action Network, said at a press conference before the text's release, adding that "no deal is better than a bad deal" for developing countries.
Sindra Sharma from the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network, an activist coalition, expressed "a complete sense of frustration" at the talks.
"I've never seen a presidency like this, I've never seen a process like this," she said.
The EU had also called for stronger leadership from Azerbaijan, whose leader, Ilham Aliyev, opened the conference by railing against Western nations and hailing fossil fuels as a "gift of God".
Apart from splits over money, many nations fear the climate deal in negotiation does not reflect the urgency on phasing out coal, oil and gas -- the main drivers of global warming.
Last year's COP28 summit in Dubai made a landmark call on the world to transition away from fossil fuels after long negotiations in Dubai.
But a Saudi official speaking on behalf of the Arab Group said the bloc would "not accept any text that targets any specific sectors, including fossil fuel" in Baku.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock singled out Saudi Arabia as she said it was "essential" to keep last year's call on fossil fuels.
"Apparently some had a different goal here, and that is turning back the clock," she told reporters.
But European countries, like the US, have also seen a shift in political mood with a backlash against foreign aid and the green agenda.
The annual UN-led climate talks come on what is already poised to be the hottest year in history and as disasters rise around the world.
Just since the start of COP29 on November 11, deadly storms have battered the Philippines and Honduras, while Ecuador has declared a national emergency due to drought and forest fires and Spain has been reeling after historic floods.
