[Source: Reuters]

The U.N.’s climate chief called on leaders of the world’s biggest economies on Saturday to send a signal of support for global climate finance efforts when they meet in Rio de Janeiro next week, to help trigger a deal at COP29 talks.

The plea, made in a letter to G20 leaders from top U.N. climate official Simon Stiell, comes as negotiators at the COP29 conference in Baku struggle for a deal intended to scale up money to address the worsening impacts of global warming.

The groups included the We Mean Business Coalition, the United Nations Global Compact and the Brazilian Council for Sustainable Development.

Ana Toni, a Brazilian climate official, told a press conference she was hoping for “a very strong signal on climate” from the G20 meeting, saying it was vital to the Baku talks.

Success at this year’s U.N. climate summit hinges on whether countries can agree on a new annual finance target for richer countries, development lenders and the private sector. Developing countries need at least $1 trillion a year by the end of the decade to cope with climate change, economists told the U.N. talks.

But negotiators have made slow progress, midway through the two-week conference. A draft text of the deal, which earlier this week was 33-pages long and comprised of dozens of wide-ranging options, had been pared down to 25 pages as of Saturday.

Sweden’s climate envoy, Mattias Frumerie, told Reuters the finance negotiations had not yet cracked the toughest issues: how big the target should be, or which countries should pay.

Saudi Arabia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Progress on this issue has been dire so far, one European negotiator told Reuters.

Uganda’s energy minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, said her country’s priority was to leave COP29 with a deal on affordable financing for clean energy projects.