Developing nations slam 'paltry' $300 bn climate deal

The world approved a bitterly negotiated climate deal Sunday but poorer nations most at the mercy of worsening disasters dismissed a $300 billion a year pledge from wealthy historic polluters as insultingly low.

After two exhausting weeks of chaotic bargaining and sleepless nights, nearly 200 nations banged through the contentious finance pact in the early hours in a sports stadium in Azerbaijan.

But the applause had barely subsided when India delivered a full-throated rejection of the "abysmally poor" deal, kicking off a firestorm of criticism from across the developing world.

"It's a paltry sum," thundered India's delegate Chandni Raina.

"This document is little more than an optical illusion. This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face."

Sierra Leone's climate minister Jiwoh Abdulai said it showed a "lack of goodwill" from rich countries to stand by the world's poorest as they confront rising seas and harsher droughts.

Nigeria's envoy Nkiruka Maduekwe put it more bluntly: "This is an insult".

Some countries had accused Azerbaijan, an oil and gas exporter, of lacking the will to meet the moment in a year defined by costly disasters and on track to become the hottest on record.

But at protests throughout COP29, developed nations — major economies like the European Union, United States and Japan — were accused of negotiating in bad faith, making a fair deal impossible.

Developing nations arrived in the Caspian Sea city of Baku hoping to secure a massive financial boost from rich countries many times above their existing pledge of $100 billion a year.

Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, said she would return home with only "small portion" of...