COP29 draft deal on verge of collapse as small island nations walk out.

The latest Cop29 draft deal on climate finance is thought to have been firmly rejected by developing countries as negotiators walked out of UN talks on the verge of collapse.

Negotiators from rich and poor nations were huddled in one room on Saturday as the talks to reach a deal on money for developing economies went into overtime, a day after the UN summit in Azerbaijan was scheduled to finish.

A group of negotiators from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) bloc and the Alliance of Small Island States walked out because they did not want to engage with the rough draft in Baku in a dramatic day that also saw protests echoing through the corridors.

”[The] current deal is unacceptable for us.  We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do,” Evans Njewa, the chairman of the LDC group, said.

Asked if the walkout was a protest, Colombia environment minister Susana Mohamed told The Associated Press: “I would call this dissatisfaction, [we are] highly dissatisfied.”

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