Time ticks down for negotiators at UN climate talks to find deal to curb warming and its effects

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — With time running down, negotiators at the United Nations annual climate talks on Wednesday returned to the puzzle of finding an agreement to bring far more money for vulnerable nations to adapt than wealthier countries have shown they're willing to pay.

Vulnerable nations are seeking $1.3 trillion to deal with damage from climate change and to adapt to that change, including building out their own clean-energy systems. Experts agree that at least $1 trillion is called for, but both figures are far more than the developed world has so far offered.

Negotiators are fighting over three big parts of the issue: How big the numbers are, how much is grants or loans, and who contributes.

At a session where negotiators relayed their progress Wednesday, Australia’s climate minister Chris Bowen, one of the ministers leading talks on the money goal, said that he's heard different proposals on how much cash should be in the pot. As well as the $1.3 trillion proposed by developing countries, nations proposed figures of $900 billion, $600 billion and $440 billion, he said.

But Diego Balanza, the chair of the Like-Minded Group negotiating bloc, said the group was hearing a figure of $200 billion in negotiating corridors. That's not enough, he said.

“Developed countries whose legal obligations it is to provide finance continue to shift their responsibility to developing countries,” Balanza said.

“We are now nearing the endgame in the negotiations and the frustration is palpable,” said Juan Pablo Hoffmaister of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Hoffmaister, who's a former negotiator for developing countries, said that while potential climate finance goals are finally out, it’s still unclear how they will be delivered — loans, grants or other means. “We need to fix this over the next 72 hours,” he said.

There appeared to be some positivity on working through other issues at the talks. South Africa's climate minister Dion George — one of two ministers leading talks on how to cut fossil fuels — said that “all parties confirmed their commitment to delivering on the Dubai consensus reached last year” when countries pledged to transition away from fossil fuels.

And New Zealand's climate minister Simon Watts was also “very encouraged” by movement on so-called Article 6, a proposal to slash emissions through, among other things, a system of carbon credits that allow nations to pollute if they offset emissions elsewhere.

But a lot was still left to work out.

Alden Meyer of the European think tank E3G summed up the state of negotiations on Wednesday by saying the word of the day at the talks is “circle… as in going around in circles."

Also Wednesday, ministers addressed the venue's main plenary hall to push for a strong outcome at the talks and slammed wars around the world for their devastating impact on communities and the environment.

“Global military spending stands at 2.5 trillion annually. For some $2.5 trillion dollars to kill each other, it’s not enough, but one trillion to save lives is unreasonable,” said Panama Climate Envoy Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez. “Causing our own extinction is the most ridiculous thing. At least the dinosaurs had an asteroid. What is our excuse?”

Nisreen Tamimi, chairperson of the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority warned of “ecocide” after over a year of Israeli bombardment in Gaza. “Protection of the environment is actually not an ancillary issue, it is not a secondary option, it is a basic right that is related to all of us as human beings,” she said.

Ukraine's environment minister Svitlana Grynchuk also called attention to the damage of forest fires caused by Russian military actions in the country. “Nature knows no borders,” she said.

Meanwhile, half the world away in Rio, Brazil, where the Group of 20 summit wrapped up on Tuesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the group of the world’s largest economies that “the success of COP29 is largely in your hands.”

“That goal, the financial goal, in its different layers, must meet the needs of developing countries, beginning with a significant increase in concessional public funds,” he said.

And the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said developed nations should consider moving their 2050 emission goals forward to 2040 or 2045.

“The G20 is responsible for 80% of greenhouse effect emissions,” he said. “Even if we are not walking the same speed, we can all take one more step.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Ukraine Environment Minister Svitlana Grynchuk speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Palestinian Chairperson of Environment Nisreen Tamimi leaves after speaking during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Yalchin Rafiyev, Azerbaijan's COP29 lead negotiator, attends a session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Activists demonstrate for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Attendees listen during a session on urbanization at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Activist Erica Njuguna speaks during a demonstration on climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activist Erica Njuguna leads a demonstration with signs reading "Global South: stand up for public finance" at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of people are voting in state elections in Maharashtra, India’s western industrial hub, and the mineral-rich eastern province of Jharkhand on Wednesday, in a test of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its regional partners.

Politically significant Maharashtra is India’s wealthiest state and home to the financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai. It is currently ruled by a coalition of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu nationalist ally. An opposition alliance, including the Congress party, is in power in eastern Jharkhand state.

Modi has held big rallies in the two states. The challenge comes barely four months after his party suffered a setback and returned to power in national elections for a third term without a parliamentary majority. He formed the government with the help of regional partners.

Modi, in a post on social platform X ahead of the state elections, wrote: "On this occasion, I appeal to all the youth and women voters to vote in large numbers.”

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst who wrote a Modi biography, said a reversal in these state elections would negatively impact Modi’s leadership style.

“It will have repercussions for the BJP in coming elections in Delhi and Bihar states next year," he said.

Votes in the two states will be counted on Saturday.

After suffering a setback in national elections, the BJP regained momentum in October as it won Haryana state elections, where pollsters had predicted an easy victory for the opposition Congress party.

Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party won a consolation victory in alliance with the regional National Conference party in local elections in India’s insurgency-wracked Jammu and Kashmir after a 10-year gap.

The BJP is trying to wrest power from the Congress party and its allies in Jharkhand, a state rich in iron ore, coal and other minerals.

The BJP’s use of slogans like “If you divide, then you will die” and “If we are united, then we are safe” to attract Hindu votes has prompted opposition parties to accuse the BJP of trying to polarize the voters along Hindu-Muslim religious lines.

Hindus constitute nearly 80% and Muslims 11.5% of Maharashtra state’s estimated 131 million people.

Mukhopadhyay saw a tendency from top BJP leaders to communalize the elections, saying, "It shows the growing desperation of the party, and it looks like their reading is they are not doing very well in Maharashtra and Jharkhand states."

Election surveys on the eve of polling put the opposition alliance comprising the Congress party and two truncated regional groups, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress party, ahead of the BJP and its allies currently governing the state. The Congress party defeated the BJP and its allies in the June national elections by winning 30 out of 48 seats in the state. The BJP and its regional partners won 17 seats.

The Congress party and its allies hope to capitalize on the simmering disaffection with high youth unemployment, inflation and low crop prices during the BJP’s rule.

The BJP hopes to attract women voters with a scheme that provides 1,500 rupees ($18) a month to over 20 million women aged 21-65 whose annual family income is less than 250,000 ($3,010). If the Congress party is voted to power in the state, it has promised women double that amount and free transportation in government buses.

Senior citizen Amol Prabhu shows index finger after casting his votes during Maharashtra state assembly elections in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov 20, 2024.(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Senior citizen Amol Prabhu shows his index finger after casting his vote during Maharashtra state assembly elections in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

A woman walks out after casting her vote during Maharashtra state assembly elections in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

People wait in a queue to cast their votes during Maharashtra state assembly elections in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov 20, 2024.(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

People wait in a queue to cast their votes during Maharashtra state assembly elections in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)