COP29 talks stall from start with fight over agenda [Video]

The COP29 talks opened Monday with calls for global cooperation and fresh warnings about climate disasters — but proceedings quickly ground to a halt in a fight over the agenda.

Donald Trump’s re-election is already hanging over the talks in Baku where negotiators are meant to agree new funding for climate action in poorer countries.

As they 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 rich countries 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.”

But the official proceedings in the capital of oil- and gas-rich Azerbaijan stalled almost immediately.

“They’re not going to resume until they resolve… the agenda,” said Alden Meyer, senior …