The richest countries pledged a record $300 billion to help the developing world fight climate change, but the agreement faces strong criticism that the amount is not enough to tackle the challenges of global warming in poorer countries.

Talks at the UN’s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan lasted 33 hours and came close to collapsing.

The head of the UN climate body, Simon Stiell, said it had been “a difficult journey, but we have reached an agreement”.

But the talks also failed to build on an agreement approved last year that called for nations to “divest from fossil fuels.”

Developing countries, as well as countries particularly vulnerable to climate change, walked out of the talks on Saturday afternoon.

“I am not exaggerating when I say that our islands are sinking! How can you expect us to go back to the women, men and children of our countries with a bad deal?” said Alliance of Small Island States president Cedric Schuster.

But in the early hours of Sunday and after some changes to the agreement, the nations finally agreed. The deal was met with cheers and applause, but India immediately showed its dismay at the outcome.

“We cannot accept it… the proposed goal will solve nothing for us. [Δεν είναι] conducive to the climate action that is necessary for the survival of our country,” Leela Nandan told the conference, calling the amount too small.

Then states like Switzerland, the Maldives, Canada and Australia protestedn that the language on reducing global fossil fuel use was too weak.

Instead, that decision was postponed until the next climate talks in 2025.

This promise of more money is a recognition that poorer nations bear a disproportionate burden of climate change, but have also historically contributed the least to the climate crisis.

The newly pledged money is expected to come from government grants and the private sector – banks and businesses – and will help countries move away from fossil fuel energy and towards the use of renewable energy sources.

There was also a commitment to triple the money available to prepare countries for climate change. Historically, only 40% of available climate change funding has been allocated to this.

In addition to the $300 billion pledge, nations also agreed that $1.3 trillion is needed by 2035 to help prevent climate change as well.

What will Trump do?

At the start of the climate talks on November 11 one of the topics that dominated was the election of Donald Trump, who will take office in January.

Trump is a climate skeptic who has said he would pull the US out of the landmark 2015 Paris accord that created a road map for nations to tackle climate change.

“The other developed donor countries know very well that Trump will not pay a penny and they will have to cover the shortfall,” Professor Joanna Depledge, an expert on international climate negotiations at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC.

“The protracted game at COP29 reflects the tougher geopolitical terrain the world finds itself on. The result is a flawed compromise between donor countries and the world’s most vulnerable nations,” said Li Shuo of the Asia Society Policy Institute think-tank.

The UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband He stressed that the new deal did not commit the UK to finding more climate finance, but was actually a “huge opportunity for British businesses” to invest in other markets.

In return for pledging more money, developed countries, including the UK and the European Union, wanted stronger commitments from countries to reduce their use of fossil fuels.

Despite their hopes that the deal reached at last year’s Dubai talks on “fossil fuel transition” would be strengthened, the final proposed deal merely restated it.

For many nations this was simply not good enough and was rejected – now it will have to be agreed next year.