Climate finance talks urged to reach settlement ahead of Trump presidency

Two weeks of talks on climate finance are scheduled to end on Friday, with many developing countries frustrated at what they believed was a lack of progress in the first week of the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan. Picture: Peter Dejong/AP

Governments meeting to forge a global settlement on climate finance must get over their differences this week and come to a deal, because if talks carry on until next year they stand little chance with Donald Trump in the White House, the German development minister has said.

Jochen Flasbarth, one of the most influential ministers at the UN Cop29 summit, said that if the final days of the summit did not produce a breakthrough, countries would face a much tougher prospect.