BAKU: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday slammed the `humiliating’ fight over money for poorer countries at the COP29 summit, demanding richer nations pay for the problem they caused.

“I think that’s very humiliating, for nations to come and ask for money to fix... (the) problem that others caused for them,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said in an interview on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Azerbaijan.

“Why should we be dragged here to negotiate? You know the problem.”

Nations are hoping to land a deal at COP29 significantly raising funding for climate action in developing nations like Bangladesh, which are least responsible for global warming but most at its mercy.

Some want the existing figure of $100 billion a year multiplied 10-fold to cover the cost of weaning their economies off fossil fuels and adapting to climate disasters.

But rich countries obligated to pay, such as the United States and European Union, are reluctant to commit such large sums and want others to chip in, with negotiators making little ground at COP29.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024