Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter in Baku

These talks are all about who is in what room. At the moment, there's a huddle of journalists and observers outside one large room called Meeting Room 3.

The press aren't allowed inside the negotiating halls, so we have to rely on people coming in and out to find out information. Or we text contacts in government delegations.

I'm sitting by the open door - every now and then it opens, and I spy groups of people, which will include ministers, standing in clusters inside.

There are a lot of rumours still circulating.

Malu Cursino
Live page editor in London

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, we're starting to get reports of a new proposed sum of cash likely to be in the next draft COP29 deal currently being fleshed out in Baku, Azerbaijan.

These numbers might change, or face strong pushback from negotiators but, as reported by the AFP news agency, the European Union (EU) is prepared for richer nations to offer $300bn (£239bn) to poorer countries per year by 2035.

That's a $50bn increase from the latest offer on the table.

As a reminder, yesterday the COP29 presidency published the latest draft deal, which outlined that wealthy countries - like those in the EU, the UK and the US - were prepared to offer $250bn each year by 2035 to help less wealthy countries worst hit by the impacts of climate change.

But Friday's offer was much lower than the $1.3tn figure that developing countries had asked for, and it was widely rejected by poorer nations and climate charities.

Until we see the latest draft, it's all a lot of speculation, so let's hang tight.

My colleagues on the ground will continue to bring you the latest updates from the Azerbaijani capital as soon as we have it.

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor in Baku

The climate team are making the most of the impasse in negotiations to sneak out for a cheeky kebab.

The food in Azerbaijan is delicious.

Lots of aubergine dishes and ripe tomatoes, often served with sour cherries or pomegranate.

There’s bread hot from tandoor-like wood-fired ovens and wonderful stews laced with chestnuts.

If you’ve got any room left you might want to tuck into one of the country’s mighty “plovs” - lightly spiced Caucasian versions of a biryanis which are sometimes served baked in pastry like a pie.

Yum!

Georgina Rannard & Jack Burgess
reporting from Baku

Nearly 200 countries are at these climate talks, but behind the scenes some nations are more powerful than others.

And there are blocs of countries, working a bit like clubs, with shifting alliances - sometimes friends, sometimes more like enemies.

To understand the talks here, you need to know something about who's who.

Climate reporter Georgina Rannard went to find the key players in the halls of COP29 to ask what exactly they want here.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent in Baku

Image source, Getty Images

UN climate talks have overrun into the weekend as a deep gulf formed between richer and poorer countries over cash to help those most vulnerable in a warming world.

Yesterday, wealthier nations offered to more than double to $250bn (£199bn) a year the cash they give developing countries annually to fight climate change.

But poorer countries angrily rejected this as too low, with the group of small island nations saying they were "deeply disappointed" with an offer that showed "contempt for our vulnerable people".

Efforts to limit emissions of planet warming gases were also up in the air, as the meeting went past the official closing time on Friday, with no indication of when agreement might be reached.

After two weeks of talking, delegates here in Baku finally reached the crunch issues that were always going to face this meeting – dealing with climate finance, and improving efforts to cut carbon.

• Read more on this story by following this link

Will China step up if Trump takes a step back on climate change?published at 10:01 Greenwich Mean Time 23 November

10:01 GMT 23 November

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor in Baku

The WhatsApp message was from the chief negotiator of one of the most powerful countries at the COP climate gathering. Could I stop by for a chat, he asked.

As his team hunched over computers eating takeaway pizza, he raged about the obstructionist behaviour of many of the other teams at the conference.

So far, so normal. Others had been saying versions of this all week – that this was the worst COP ever; that negotiating texts, which are meant to get smaller as deadlines approached, were in fact ballooning; that COP in its current form might be dead in the water.

Looming over it all was the prospect of US president-elect Donald Trump withdrawing the US from the COP process when he takes office for a second time.

He has called climate action a “scam” and, at his victory celebration in West Palm Beach earlier this month, vowed to boost US oil production beyond its current record levels, saying, “we have more liquid gold than any country in the world”.

Image source, Getty Images

But there was one positive: China.

“It's the only bright spot in all of this is,” the chief negotiator told me. Not only was its negotiating style markedly different to previous years, but he also observed that, as he puts it, “China could be stepping forward”.

Another sign that this may be the case came at the start of the conference, when China made public details of its climate funding.

Traditionally, China has released minimal information about its climate policies and plans, so it came as a surprise when, for the first time, officials said they have paid developing countries more than $24 billion for climate action since 2016.

“That’s serious money, almost nobody else is at that level,” one COP insider told me.

• Read Justin Rowlatt's full piece for BBC In Depth by following this link

Jack Burgess
Live page editor in Baku

Now let's turn to the big question everyone is asking - will there be a deal agreed today at the COP29 climate talks?

The conference centre here in Azerbaijan's capital is looking far emptier this Saturday morning.

It's nearly 2pm here local time (nearly 10:00 GMT) but yesterday these corridors were full with thousands of people. This morning it's a completely different atmosphere.

The buses taking us from the underground to the summit appear to be running less frequently and it looks like parts of the venue are already being dismantled.

Negotiations are still very much ongoing and we're expecting another draft deal to arrive at some point today - after yesterday's proposal faced strong backlash from poorer countries hit by climate change, accusing rich nations of not pledging enough.

When will we know more? Your guess is as good as mine.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter in Baku

While COP29 was due to conclude today, one youth activist texted an invitation to a "youth sleepover" outside the plenary halls.

It reads: Many of us will stay overnight to let negotiators know that we will not give up. Bring friends and snacks.

People we know inside the negotiating rooms are advising us to get some sleep - there are many hours ahead and possibly no progress until the morning.

No kips on the floor for the BBC team here though - for now at least - as we are pausing the page for the evening (we're four hours ahead of the UK).

We'll be back with more from the halls of power at the COP bright and early tomorrow morning. Until then, my colleague Matt McGrath has the latest updates on how poorer countries have rejected wealthier nations' offer of $250bn a year to help tackle climate change.

Editing the page were Jack Burgess in Baku and Malu Cursino in London with Greg Brosnan.

Esme Stallard, Justin Rowlatt, Matt McGrath and myself have been bringing you updates from the Azerbaijani capital, with Alex Loftus and Rorey Bosotti reporting from London.

Francis Agustin
BBC Future

Image source, Serenity Strull/Getty Images

When it comes to solving climate change, every word counts.

The work of translators is often overlooked when world's leaders and negotiators meet to discuss climate action. But their gruelling work and tough choices help keep the talks flowing.

Jianjun Chen has worked at the UN for 14 years and translated multiple agreements from the UN climate talks into Mandarin.

"Translation becomes our universal language, bridging understanding and fostering collaboration, ensuring that every voice resonates in this vital dialogue," Chen says.

As negotiations near their end in Baku, Azerbaijan, for COP29, Chen and other translators are hard at work prepping translations for a slew of climate documents. The words and phrases included in these agreements could shape the way people around the world talk about climate change for the next few decades.

From complex scientific terms to dead metaphors, translators told me why climate talks are so hard to translate.

To help keep global warming to the 1.5C limit agreed in Paris in 2015, CO2 emissions need to be "net zero" by 2050, the UN says.

This means reducing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, and removing any remaining emissions from the atmosphere.

Most countries have, or are considering, net zero targets, external, external.

However, greenhouse gas levels are still rising quickly and the world is "likely" to warm beyond 1.5C, the IPCC says.

However, there has been progress in some areas, such as the growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles.

To sketch things out world leaders meet every year to discuss their climate commitments, most recently at the climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the BBC's climate team is right now.

One of COP29's major priorities is agreeing a new deal on the money that richer countries should give to poorer nations to help them tackle climate change.

Jocelyn Timperley & Isabelle Gerretsen
BBC Future Planet

Image source, Getty Images

Climate change is already causing huge financial losses around the world, costing an average of $143bn (£113bn) per year between 2000 and 2019, external, according to one paper. As climate change impacts mount up, such damages are only set to rise.

Developing countries are already especially hard hit. While overall financial losses tend to be greater in richer countries, poorer countries see higher shares of GDP loss, external and often suffer the most in terms of lives lost and disrupted, external.

It has previously been agreed that the new climate cash goal currently being negotiated in Baku should take into account the "needs and priorities" of developing countries, rather than just what rich countries want to pledge.

"The needs have obviously gotten a lot bigger because we've failed to mitigate [reduce emissions]," says Charlene Watson, a researcher at the Overseas Development Institute. "[They] are just tremendous."

• Read more about why climate vulnerable countries are calling for more money.

Mark Poynting
Climate and environment researcher

The draft text lists a concrete goal of $250bn (£200bn) a year in climate finance from richer nations to developing countries by 2035.

But it also gives a wider ambition to ramp up finance from a range of sources to at least $1.3tn.

That’s the figure that developing countries (minus China) need from other nations every year by 2035, according to a recent UN-backed report.

It sounds a lot of money, but it’s worth putting in context.

The world’s gross domestic product – a measure of the size of the economy – is around $110tn, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor in Baku

We've heard from the lead negotiator from Azerbaijan's COP29 team.

Yalchin Rafiyev says COP29 is "pushing for a fair and ambitious outcome" and a "fair and ambitious" finance deal that takes account of the needs and priorities of the developing countries here in Baku.

But in the current draft agreement it isn’t entirely clear who’s paying what to whom and developing nations have pushed back hard, saying it’s not enough.

When I asked him if he thought the $250bn (£199bn) being proposed was enough he replied: "It doesn’t correspond to our fair and ambitious goal.”

"We will continue, of course, to engage with the Parties."

What that means is that there is still a lot of negotiating to be done.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter in Baku

The small island nations considered among the world's most vulnerable to climate change say they are "deeply disappointed" with what they are calling a pitiful offer of cash in the latest proposal.

"We cannot be expected to agree to a text which shows such contempt for our vulnerable people," the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) group says in a statement.

It includes countries like Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu in the Pacific, and Barbados and Bermuda in the Caribbean. All are massively at risk from sea-level rise with many feeling the impacts already.

They say the proposed $250bn a year by 2035 is a cap that will "severely stagnate climate action efforts". They say it does not represent a real increase from the previous agreed cash goals of $100bn.

The statement reads: "AOSIS is deeply disappointed in the state of the most recent text, which basically asks Parties 'How low can you go?' on climate ambition."

One observer pointed out that considering inflation, external, the new goal is a 30% reduction on the previous agreed amount of $100bn annually that runs out next year.

And, reading between the lines, it looks the AOSIS group may have fallen out with some other developing countries.

AOSIS had asked for ring-fenced funding for the nations in its group, but some developing countries like Pakistan have publicly opposed that.

We'll see what happens in the next few hours...

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter in Baku

I've been talking to youth activists at these talks who travelled from the UK. They're frustrated with the pace of progress.

"I meet people who've been to every single COP - all 29. That's longer than I've been alive. I think they're become comfortable with these issues," Svetlana Chigozie, 27, told me.

A big part of these talks is about developed countries - which includes the UK - giving more public money to developing countries to help them tackle climate change.

But that involves more tax-payers' money at a time of a cost of living crisis.

I asked Svetlana her thoughts on this.

“I understand why that sentiment can happen. But we need to help people understand what’s happening," she replies.

She's British-Nigerian and has seen the impacts of climate change in Nigeria.

"If we don’t help people in developing countries now, it will get worse and that will cost everyone more," she adds.

“If we leave someone behind, we're leaving ourselves behind.”

Image source, Getty Images

UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband says the country wants a "good outcome" from COP29, which has already "put Britain back on the map of global climate leadership" following his pledge to cut domestic emissions by 81% before 2035.

Earlier, we heard from a climate specialist who called today's proposal an "alarming step back", but Miliband says that while the COP process is difficult, "it moves and this transition is moving".

A source from the UK government adds that although the new proposal doesn't achieve everything they're looking for, it gives a "platform to negotiate from".

There is a hard but achievable path ahead in the final hours - and that is what we are focusing on," they say.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter in Baku

One important group here is the African Group, made up of 54 nations.

A major priority for them is getting enough money to help them change their energy systems and economies to carry out their plans to respond to climate change.

Ali Mohamed, who chairs the group, says the $250bn (£199bn) figure floated in the text is "totally unacceptable and inadequate".

I saw him speak at a press conference on Wednesday and he was very clear that the countries he represents want $1.3 trillion to be agreed here, from governments and private finance.

He said this latest proposal would "lead to unacceptable loss of life in Africa and around the world".

But, remember, statements are all part of the game of negotiations.

We are being told this will run late into the night or even tomorrow.

Jonathan Josephs
BBC Business reporter

Image source, Tony Joliffe/BBC

The number coming out of Baku is $250bn (£199bn) a year, that’s the proposal for how much richer countries will give poorer countries to tackle climate change.

But it’s a long way short of the $2.4 trillion a year the Independent High Level Expert Group says they’ll need.

The co-chair Dr Vera Songwe told the BBC that $1 trillion of that should come from richer countries that are responsible for the lion’s share of the pollution that’s pushed up global temperatures.

The rest would be generated by the poorer countries themselves but governments around the world are short of cash in a world where borrowing is expensive and many have spent heavily in recent years.

So where will they get the money?

Well, “taxes will have to go up”, says Dr Songwe.

She says governments could do that by increasing manufacturing in developing economies and by removing trade restrictions around the world.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter in Baku

Money for climate action broadly falls into three buckets:

Loss and damage

Two years ago, at COP27, world leaders agreed for the first time to establish a loss and damage fund.

This money is to help developing countries recover from the effects of climate change they are already suffering.

Image source, Getty Images

Mitigation

To help developing nations move away from fossil fuels and other polluting activities. This is where most money has been given to date because it can often be profitable.

Many countries still have coal power stations that are yet to reach the ends of their lives. They need support to switch to clean energy, such as solar farms.

Adaptation

To prepare developing nations for the worst effects of climate change.

The needs vary depending where in the world the country is, but may include:

• building stronger flood defences
• relocating populations at risk
• developing storm proof housing
• distributing crops that are more resilient to dry spells

Image source, Getty Images

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who represents one of the rich nations we keep talking about, has responded to calls for her country and other wealthy ones to pledge more than the $250bn (£199bn) set out in today’s proposal.

"We will not issue blank cheques," she writes on social media, but adds: "we as Europeans are ready to deliver".

Baerbock calls for a new approach to climate finance, which she says can't work without also discussing mitigation.

"We need answers that match the reality of the world we live in. Vulnerable states must have access to financing, and emerging economies must also benefit," she adds.