Matt McGrath & Georgina Rannard
Environment correspondent and climate reporter in Baku

A key question this year is money.

Under the Paris agreement signed in 2015, world leaders pledged to try to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 1.5C. For that to happen countries need to ramp up their efforts to cut warming gases.

As part of the agreement, countries committed to develop a new cash target for developing nations by 2025. This money would be used to help emerging economies cut their carbon and adapt to the worst impacts of rising temperatures.

Image source, Getty Images

Getting agreement on a new finance target is seen as a critical step in building trust between rich and poor nations as, so far, the track record hasn’t been great.

African countries and small island states want to see climate finance in total reach over $1tn (£800bn) a year by 2030.

Up to now countries like China and the Gulf States have been classified as developing economies and been exempt from contributing.

According to the EU and other wealthy countries, that must change if the overall amount of cash is to be increased.

• Read more by following this link

Jack Burgess
Live page editor in Baku

Image source, Reuters

It's now lunchtime here in Baku and there's still no sign of the latest draft deal.

The COP29 presidency said this morning that a new draft would be published at about midday local time today (08:00 GMT), but it's yet to appear.

A new draft is expected to include an update on numbers for climate funds to developing countries, after the previous text said developing nations need "$X" per year.

As we've been reporting, COP climate summits have a history of overrunning, and many people here are expecting the same thing to happen this year.

But don't worry, we've got our snacks in the media centre in Baku to keep us going, and will be bringing you the latest developments from the ground - probably throughout the weekend.

Georgina Rannard & Jack Burgess
Reporting from Baku

We spoke to Umazi Mvurya, 30, at the youth pavilion about her work protecting tropical rainforests in Kenya.

She's been campaigning here to ask countries to include children and young people in their national climate plans.

That could see better courses at school about climate change, or recognising how children are vulnerable to extreme weather and may need more protection.

At an event this week, the UK's Energy Minister Ed Miliband signed the pledge - making the UK the first country to sign up, although it has not yet explained what it will actually do.

Mark Poynting
Climate and environment researcher

Image source, AFP

It is now "virtually certain" that 2024 - a year punctuated by intense heatwaves and deadly storms - will be the world's warmest on record, according to projections by the European climate service.

Global average temperatures across the year are on track to end up more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which would make 2024 the first calendar year to breach this symbolic mark.

These high temperatures are mainly down to human-caused climate change, with smaller contributions from natural factors such as the El Niño weather pattern.

• Scientists say this should act as an alarm call

Image source, Reuters

It's just gone 12:30 here in Baku (08:00 GMT) and we're still waiting for the new draft text to arrive, but while we're waiting here's a picture of the real star of the show - this delegate's hat.

It caught the eye of our team yesterday when it was worn stylishly by Panama's special representative for climate change, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez.

Hats off to you, Juan.

Mark Poynting and Georgina Rannard
BBC Climate & Science

While a lot of progress has been made in tackling climate change, we are still not on track to meet key climate goals.

A recent UN report warned that current policies put the world on track for around 3C warming by the end of the century.

This is clearly far above the target to try to limit long-term warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which was agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.

The UN says that the 1.5C target is still “technically possible”, but only with huge cuts to emissions over the next decade.

The recent US election has also posed challenges for uniting the world around new climate targets. Incoming president Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement and “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas.

This is “a major blow to global climate action," according to Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief.

"But it cannot and will not halt the changes under way to decarbonise the economy and meet the goals of the Paris agreement.”

Renewable sources of energy like wind and solar are growing very quickly, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) expecting global renewable capacity to grow 2.7 times by 2030 compared with its 2022 level.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter in Baku

"We have got a COP president that doesn't engage parties and is fumbling in the dark," said Mohamed Adow, who is the director of climate and energy think-tank Power Shift Africa at a press conference this morning.

Adow is one of many independent observers that sits in on the talks and his words echo what we have been hearing from other delegates in anonymous briefings this morning.

The role of the COP president - which this year is Azerbaijan's environment minister Mukhtar Babayev - is to bring the different countries together to negotiate but some feel he hasn't been doing his job.

The proof will be in the... texts.

Let's wait and see.

We’re into the end game here in Bakupublished at 07:54 Greenwich Mean Time 22 November

07:54 GMT 22 November

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor, in Baku

Image source, Reuters

This conference is supposed to close later today.

But deep divisions remain – and anger too.

Developing nations say rich countries must pay more.

Trillions not billions, is the phrase they use.

Rich nations say any cash must be met with commitments to cut emissions.

But yesterday Saudi Arabia said it would reject any text that targets fossil fuels.

It sounds like deadlock, but these negotiations are like a giant poker game.

Most players will only reveal the cards they are actually holding at the last moment.

BBC Climate team
at COP29 in Baku

Image source, Reuters

A row broke out yesterday at these climate talks as leading countries said a draft deal risked going back on a historic agreement to reduce the use of planet-warming fossil fuels.

The UK, European Union, New Zealand and Ireland said the proposed agreement was "unacceptable".

Developing nations are unhappy that a pot of money has not been agreed to help them tackle climate change.

The row comes as the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned countries that "failure is not an option".

We'll be hearing more from countries soon after the revised text is released at midday here (8am GMT).

• Read more on this story by following this link

World way off target in tackling climate change - UNpublished at 07:32 Greenwich Mean Time 22 November

07:32 GMT 22 November

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent in Baku

Image source, Getty Images

Global efforts to tackle climate change are wildly off track, the UN has said, as new data shows that warming gases are accumulating faster than at any time in human existence.

Current national plans to limit carbon emissions would barely cut pollution by 2030, the UN analysis shows, leaving efforts to keep warming under 1.5C this century in tatters.

The update comes as a separate report shows that greenhouse gases have risen by over 11% in the last two decades, with atmospheric concentrations surging in 2023.

Researchers are also worried that forests are losing their ability to soak up carbon, which could be contributing to record levels of warming gas in the atmosphere.

• Read more about the UN Climate Change analysis

Jack Burgess
Live page editor in Baku

We've just seen this message appear on our screens in the COP29 conference centre.

It says that "taking into account the views expressed during the consultations" a revised text will be released at noon today local time (that's 08:00 GMT).

A row broke out earlier at COP29 as leading countries said a draft deal risked going back on a historic agreement to reduce the use of planet-warming fossil fuels.

We'll be looking through all the details in the revised text then.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter in Baku

It is hard to believe COP29 is already nearly over. Yet still there is so much to be agreed.

Although this has been called a "finance COP" countries are actually discussing lots of different issues relating to climate change:

• How much money to give developing countries to move away from fossil fuels and prepare for climate change
• What further commitments can be made to use fewer fossil fuels - the driver of rising temperatures
• What more support can be given to women who face a disproportionate burden from a warming world
• How they measure progress on their efforts to reduce emissions long term

Since last week developing countries have been calling for $1.3tn (£1.03tn) and that a significant share of this is in the form of grants rather than loans which can increase their debt burden.

But developed nations have been vague about what figure they would be willing to put forward.

Image source, Getty Images

What richer countries have been telling journalists over the last few days is their focus is to get stronger pledges on fossil fuels. Last year in Dubai at COP28 countries agreed to "transition away from fossil fuels" but currently in the texts we have seen there is no mention of this commitment at all.

Based on comments made by Saudi Arabia on Thursday it seems maybe they are holding things up on this.

Saudi Arabi's Albara Tawfiq said: "The Arab group will not accept any text that targets specific sectors, including fossil fuels."

Forget climate, COP is really about cashpublished at 06:42 Greenwich Mean Time 22 November

06:42 GMT 22 November

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor, in Baku

Image source, Reuters

That was clear right from the start. The COP process began back in 1992 - that’s also when the arguments about who owes what to whom began.

Poorer countries said to the rich, developed nations: “you built your wealth burning fossil fuels; you should pay to solve the problem of climate change”.

Back then it was an onerous task – wind turbines and solar panels were expensive and inefficient and didn’t have the explosive power of fossil fuels.

The squabbles over cash have continued ever since.

It was only in 2015 at COP21 in Paris that all the countries in the process – rich and poor alike - finally agreed they would do their bit to tackle climate change.

Image source, EPA

The reward? Developed countries said they’d pay $100 billion (£79bn) a year to help poorer nations tackle climate change.

They also said that was just the first downpayment - they’d cough up significantly more in 10 years’ time.

Spin forward nine years and we get to Baku in 2024.

You could be forgiven for thinking that all that has changed is the scale of the cash on the table – up from $100bn (£79bn) to over a trillion.

But the economics of clean energy have transformed.

In many countries renewable tech now provides the cheapest energy in the history of humanity and the expectation now is the bulk of the cash the developing world is demanding will come from private investors.

It means the transition away from fossil fuels won’t be driven primarily by moral or environmental concerns anymore, but something much more powerful – the desire for private profit.

Matt McGrath and Georgina Rannard
BBC News Climate and Science

Image source, Reuters

COP29 is the world's most important meeting on climate change.

It is led by the UN, and the 2024 event, is the 29th such gathering. It has been running for the last two weeks - and is due to end today.

Every year it is rotated around a different region of the world. This year it is being held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a central Asian country located between Russia and Iran.

COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”.

"Parties" refers to the nearly 200 countries that have ratified a treaty called the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

More than 50,000 delegates are believed to have been in attendance at COP29.

Jack Burgess
Live page editor in Baku

Image source, Reuters

It’s just gone 10am (06:00 GMT) here in Azerbaijan's capital Baku and I'm in a room at the heart of this year's UN climate summit with the BBC's climate and science team.

Nearly 200 countries have been locked in tense negotiations for two weeks.

They have been discussing how to reduce emissions and move away from fossil fuels, and crucially agree how much money developing nations will get to tackle and prepare for climate change.

A new draft agreement on finance is expected at about midday local time but there's been a lot of frustration at the slow progress of talks since the conference started last week.

Today is scheduled to be the final day of the summit, so time is running out for nations to reach a deal.

COP is notorious for running into overtime and many here now expect talks to carry on into the weekend.

We'll keep you up-to-date right here with the latest developments.