Record heat in China. Forest fires evacuate Swiss villages. Drought ravages Spanish crops. As the costs of climate change rise, a debate rages among governments: who should foot the bill?
The issue was at the center of attention during this week's US-China climate talks, where the world's two biggest economies tried to find ways to work together on issues ranging from renewable energy deployment to financing - ahead of this year's COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai.
With China's rapid economic growth and ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions, pressure has grown on Beijing to join the group of countries paying the bill for climate change.
During the talks in Beijing, US climate envoy John Kerry said the two sides would continue to discuss funding over the next four months, ahead of the COP28 conference which starts on November 30.
"It is difficult to argue that countries like China, Brazil or Saudi Arabia should still be put on the same level as the least developed countries and small island developing states," a diplomat from a European Union country told Reuters.
The EU, which today contributes the most to climate change financing, lobbied to expand the group of donor countries that provide it.
Climate finance refers to money that rich countries pay to help poorer countries reduce carbon dioxide emissions and adapt to higher temperatures.
So far, several dozen rich countries have been obliged to pay, but have not delivered the promised amounts. That list of countries was decided during the UN climate talks in 1992, when China's economy was smaller than Italy's.
Now some countries are calling on China to contribute. US officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have noted that Chinese contributions will increase the effectiveness of the UN climate fund.
Other countries under similar pressure are Qatar, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, the three richest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita.
China has so far resisted calls to join the rich nations.
In his meeting with Kerry, Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed that developed countries should meet their financing obligations and take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, his office said. He suggested that developing countries could contribute within their means.
Beijing's resistance indicates that joint efforts face serious challenges - as changing the list of UN donors requires international consensus.
"There is too much resistance among countries like China and Saudi Arabia," an anonymous EU official told Reuters.
Proponents of the change argue that the expansion of the list needs to happen before the new UN climate change funding target takes effect after 2025. Countries still need to negotiate the size of the target and who will contribute to it.
"All countries that are able must contribute to global climate change financing," said Ambassador Paolelei Luteru, who chairs the Alliance of Small Island States.
The bigger question, he told Luther, is which of the poor and most vulnerable countries will be in line to receive the money.
Who is responsible?
The UN climate finance arrangement is based on the principle that rich countries have a greater responsibility in the fight against climate change, as they have contributed the largest emissions of carbon dioxide that warm the planet.
The historical CO2 emission of the US is higher than any other country, but China is now the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide in terms of the pollution it causes on an annual basis.
At the COP28 summit, countries will face a new challenge because they aim to establish a new fund to compensate vulnerable countries for the costs already incurred in natural disasters caused by climate change.
Last year, the EU stopped opposing that fund - on the condition that several countries participate in it, and so far it has not been decided which countries would be those. The US has been cautious about payments that could be seen as reparations for the effects of climate change.
China launched the South-South Climate Cooperation Fund in 2015 to help least developed countries tackle climate issues, and has so far delivered about 10% of the $3,1 billion pledged, according to data from think tank E3G.
Byford Cang, a senior policy adviser at the center, said China's greater involvement in climate finance was a win-win for Beijing.
"It would give China more diplomatic influence and put pressure on Western donors to increase their roles in climate finance," he said.
Some vulnerable countries, on the other hand, frustrated by reduced funding, are looking for new sources of cash.
The Bridgetown Initiative, led by Barbados, is pushing for the re-establishment of multilateral development banks so they can offer more support for climate projects.
Other countries have rallied behind a global carbon tax on shipping to raise funds.
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