COP28 outlook soured by climate finance blame game at UN talks

COP28 outlook soured by climate finance blame game at UN talks

BARCELONA - As Cyclone Biparjoy approached southern Pakistan this week, top Pakistani negotiator Nabeel Munir told governments at mid-year U.N. climate talks in Bonn it felt like he was "conducting a primary school class", amid squabbling over the meeting agenda.

The evening before the two-week negotiations were due to end in the German city on Thursday, a compromise was found, avoiding a diplomatic embarrassment ahead of December's key COP28 summit in Dubai.

But the Bonn outcome did not resolve the stark differences between rich nations that want to focus on a formal work programme to boost emissions reductions - and some developing countries that are demanding they also address a lack of international finance to help them shift to clean energy.

"Here in Bonn, negotiators have been playing the blame game and pointing fingers at each other's insufficient action," said Tom Evans, policy advisor on climate diplomacy and geopolitics at environmental consultancy E3G.

The "big prize" at COP28, he noted, would be an ambitious political deal to step up climate action in response to a global review that is set to highlight how the world is failing to limit warming to a global goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius, and is unprepared for climate disasters.

"There's