The European Union, United States and other wealthy countries at the COP29 climate summit have agreed to raise their offer of a global finance target to $300 billion per year by 2035, sources told Reuters on Saturday.
The shift in position came after a $250 billion proposal for a deal, drafted by Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency on Friday, was panned by developing countries as insultingly low.
Five sources with knowledge of the closed-door discussions said the EU had agreed they could accept the higher number. Two of the sources said the United States, Australia, and Britain were also on board.
Delegates at the UN climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan were awaiting a new draft of a global deal on climate finance on Saturday morning after negotiators worked through the night.
It was not immediately clear if the wealthy countries’ revised position had been communicated to developing countries at COP29.
A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the negotiations. The US delegation at COP29 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 5,000, government data showed on Friday, as authorities had yet to find a way to control the country's deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.
Four planes carrying residents evacuated from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky landed in Belarus on Saturday, the Belarusian Belta state news agency and a senior Ukrainian official said.
France deployed a 70,000-strong police presence to contain a widely expected bout of fresh unrest on Saturday in the latest nationwide protests driven by anger over living costs, public services and President Emmanuel Macron's government.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced the closure of three major roads on Sunday, November 1 for over six hours due to Dubai Ride 2026.
The United Arab Emirates has expressed solidarity with India following a helicopter crash in Uttarakhand, in the Himalayas, which resulted in the death of a number of people.