The new draft text released early Thursday, which would form the basis of any agreement reached at United Nations climate talks on money for developing countries to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change, left out a crucial sticking point: how much rich nations will pay.

Negotiators at talks known as COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, are trying to narrow the gap between the $1.3 trillion the developing world says is needed for climate finance and the several hundred billion dollars richer countries are prepared to pay.

Ali Mohamed, president of the African Negotiators’ Group, told The Associated Press on Thursday that how much money is on the table is “the most critical point” for finding a deal, and that’s what’s missing from the draft deal.

Li Shuo, director of the Asian Social Policy Institute, said the draft text “presents two extreme ends of the corridor with not much in between.” “This text does little other than capture the situation of both parties.”

Mohamed Adow, director of think tank Power Shift Africa, expressed disappointment with the draft. “We came here to talk money. The way to measure money is with numbers. We need a check, but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper,” he said.

Independent experts say at least $1 trillion in funding is needed to help transition from planet-warming fossil fuels to clean energy such as solar and wind, better adapt to the effects of climate change and cover losses and damages caused by extreme weather.

There’s a lot of work to be done

There are three big parts of the issue that negotiators need to agree on: How big are the numbers, how much are the grants or loans, and who is contributing.

Rob Moore, Deputy Director of European think tank E3G, said “negotiators need to make a huge amount of progress in the next few days”, particularly on how much this will be.

Official observers of the talks from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, which was allowed to attend closed meetings, reported that negotiators have now agreed not to expand the list of countries that will contribute to global climate funds, at least in these talks. On grants or loans, Linda Kalcher, of the think tank Strategic Partnerships, said the draft text suggested “the need for grants and better access to finance”.

He added that the lack of figures in the draft text could be a “bluff”. COP29 presidency, which prepared the “Should know more…” texts; “It’s more than what they put on the table,” he said.

Andreas Sieber, deputy director of global policy and campaigns at environmental group 350.org, said the text distributed this morning included a range of options, some bad, some good. “I’m pretty nervous that there are still so many outstanding options. “Ministers have a lot to decide,” he said.

But Iskender Erzini Vernoit, director of the Moroccan climate think tank Manufacturing Initiative for Climate and Development, said: “I have no words to express how disappointed we are that we have reached this stage without serious numbers and serious participation at the table.” “From developed countries.”

He said some developed countries are “slowly waking up” to the fact that keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels would require more than a trillion dollars in financing. “But many are still asleep at the wheel,” he said.

Other areas being negotiated include commitments to cut fossil fuels that warm the planet and how to adapt to climate change. But observers say they have seen little movement despite the release of new draft agreements on these issues overnight.

E3G researcher Harry Camilleri said the draft text on cutting fossil fuels was “materially light”. To move forward, he said, countries must commit to ambitious updates to national climate targets.

But David Tong, campaign manager at climate advocacy group Oil Change International, said “ambition is lost” in this draft deal.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)