With one day left, the outlook looks bleak at the climate conference COP29. A draft agreement that emerged early on Thursday morning lacks a crucial part - how much the rich countries will pay.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. As it looks now, it's completely unacceptable, says EU's climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra at a press conference.
A Chasm
Negotiators are trying to bridge a chasm: Developing countries say they need $1.3 trillion - and the rich countries say they are willing to pay a few hundred billion.
Independent experts have estimated that at least $1 trillion is needed to transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources such as solar and wind, adapt to the effects of climate change, and compensate for damage caused by extreme weather.
Ali Mohamed, chairman of the African negotiating group, tells the AP news agency that the sum is the critical point for reaching an agreement.
The draft presents two extreme positions and not much in between, thinks Li Shuo, head of the Asia Society Policy Institute:
The text doesn't do much more than capture both sides' positions.
"The Dog Ate the Homework"
Dissatisfaction with the lack of figures in the draft is enormous even among organizations on site.
The rich countries had a job - to present how much money they would contribute - but the figures are missing. It's like blaming the dog for eating the homework, says Mariana Paoli from the organization Christian Aid to AP.
The German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan says that the Azerbaijani presidency of the climate meeting has not delivered what was expected.
We got a text on financing that is designed to divide us at a time when the presidency should be working to unite us, she says.
