Island nations and least developed countries left early, walking briskly out of the session with stern faces to huddle over their position — signalling how much the talks had frayed a full day after they were supposed to have concluded. Nearby climate activists shouted, “No deal is better than a bad deal.”
The United Nations climate talks in Azerbaijan were teetering on the brink of collapse as delegations prepared to fly home and countries remained at loggerheads over issues ranging from finance to emissions.
Negotiators from rich and poorer nations were cooped up in a room in the COP29 venue Baku Olympic Stadium for two hours on Saturday afternoon, going through a draft deal line by line in a process that only underscored their deep divisions.
