BAKU – A new draft of the UN climate agreement released on November 13 offers a wide range of options for funding poor countries and signals tough negotiations continue at COP29 talks in Baku.

Reaching a new agreement to fund climate action in developing countries is a top priority for negotiators at the summit in Azerbaijan.

But it is a highly controversial issue, and consensus has eluded negotiators from nearly 200 countries for much of the year.

Most developing countries support rich countries committing at least US$1.3 trillion (S$1.7 trillion) annually, according to the latest draft of the long-in-the-making climate finance deal.

This is more than 10 times the US$100 billion paid annually by a small pool of developed countries, including the United States, the European Union and Japan.

Some donors have been reluctant to pledge large amounts of public money from their budgets at a time when they face economic and political pressure at home.

“It is their responsibility to convince their voters,” a key negotiator from a developing country told AFP.

An earlier version of the draft was rejected outright by developing countries who felt the proposed terms gave too much weight to rich countries.

three options

New applications have been submitted and the new document outlines three general positions.

First, it argues that the rich, industrialized nations that are by far the most responsible for climate change are paying for it from their budgets.

While the second option calls for sharing the burden with other countries, which is the main demand of developed countries, the third option suggests a mixture of the two.

A bloc of least developed countries, mostly from Africa, wants US$220 billion, while small island states threatened by rising seas want US$39 billion.