Draft deal at deadlocked UN talks offers two rival options

A new draft deal was released at deadlocked UN climate talks on Thursday, offering competing options that show rich and developing nations remain far apart on the money needed to help poorer countries tackle global warming.

The two options in the text released at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, recognize a need of a trillion dollars per year, but both left the exact amount blank, marked with an "X."

The main sticking points, who should pay, how much and the type of funding, remain unresolved with one day left in the negotiations.

"The new finance text presents two extreme ends of the aisle without much in between," said Li Shuo, director of the China climate hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

(Cover: Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 president, speaks during the opening plenary session at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 11, 2024. /CFP)