The COP29 climate talks opened Monday in Azerbaijan with a call to show global cooperation was not "down for the count", as Donald Trump's re-election hangs over the key discussions.
Countries come to Baku after new warnings that 2024 is on track to break temperature records, adding urgency to a fractious debate over funding for climate action in poorer countries.
Trump has pledged to once again withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, and there are concerns the move could weaken ambition around the negotiating table.
As the talks opened, UN climate chief Simon Stiell told countries: "Now is the time to show that global cooperation is not down for the count."
And he warned wealthy countries who are struggling to agree a new funding target to "dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity."
"An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and wealthiest."
Negotiators must increase a $100 billion-a-year target to help developing nations prepare for worsening climate impacts and wean their economies off fossil fuels.
How much will be on offer, who will pay, and who can access the funds are some of the major points of contention.
Developing countries are pushing for trillions of dollars and insist money should be mostly grants rather than loans, but negotiators are tight-lipped over what final figure might emerge.
COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev acknowledged the need was "in the trillions" but said a more "realistic goal" was somewhere in the hundreds of billions.
"These negotiations are complex and difficult," the former executive of Azerbaijan's national oil company said at the opening of the summit.
Developing countries warn that without adequate finance, they will struggle to offer ambitious updates to their climate goals, which countries are required to submit by early next year.
"Bring some money to the table so that you show your leadership," said Evans Njewa, chair of the LDC Climate Group, whose members are home to 1.1 billion people.
Around 100 world leaders and heads of state are expected at COP29 UN climate summit in Baku on Tuesday and Wednesday amid warnings that 2024 is on track to beat temperature records.
G20
Only four G20 leaders from the world's major economies have so far confirmed their presence, according to AFP bureaus and a provisional list drawn up by the United Nations -- Britain's Keir Starmer, Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not likely to attend but his prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, is expected.
Yet G20 countries are responsible for 77 percent of greenhouse gases, according to the UN.
European Union
Of the larger EU countries, only Spain (Pedro Sanchez) and Poland (Andrzej Duda) are sending leaders.
But the heads of government of Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Malta and the Czech Republic will attend, according to a provisional UN list that could yet change.
European Council chief Charles Michel is also due to give a speech Tuesday, though Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not coming.
Developing countries
Dozens of leaders of poor countries threatened by climate change - particularly African and Pacific nations - are making the trip, led by Kenya's William Ruto and Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus.
Mia Mottley, the Barbados premier who has for years pushed for reform of the system for climate funding, will also speak.
Latin America
Latin America will be hardly represented at all by its leaders, with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Colombia's Gustavo Petro and the new Mexican leader Claudia Sheinbaum all absent.
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin will instead represent Brazil, which is holding COP30 in Belem in a year's time.
With AFP
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