Negotiations over hundreds of billions of dollars in new climate funding for developing countries had staggered into overtime at COP29 in Azerbaijan. Bitter recriminations had thrown a desperate, close-door session on Saturday into what looked like a fatal impasse. It only darkened the mood that food had all but run out the night before inside the Baku Olympic Stadium, which had become United Nations territory during the annual summit.
As talks stagnated, a group of envoys from some of the most vulnerable nations — including island states who see themselves as the first casualties of rising seas and runaway temperatures — abruptly walked out.