Baku (AFP) - The host of the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan on Tuesday defended fossil fuels and the right of countries to exploit them as dozens of world leaders arrived for the COP29 conference.

More than 75 leaders are expected, but the heads of many top polluting nations are skipping the crunch climate talks, where the impact of Donald Trump’s election victory is being digested.

Just a handful of leaders from G20 nations – which account for nearly 80 percent of the world’s planet-heating emissions – are expected over two days in Baku.

In the host’s opening address, President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan had been subject to “slander and blackmail” for its use of fossil fuels and that no country should be judged for its natural resources.

“Quote me that I said that this is a gift of the God, and I want to repeat it today here at this audience,” Aliyev told delegates.

“Oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all… are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market, because the market needs them.”

The remarks were slammed by environmental groups.

“Countries are not to blame for their natural resources, but they are responsible for the threat they pose to humanity by extracting them from the ground and driving climate impacts,” said Alex Rafalowicz, executive director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz are among G20 leaders missing the event, where uncertainty over future US climate action overshadows proceedings.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, one of the higher profile leaders attending, announced Britain would aim to cut its emissions 81 percent from 1990 levels by 2035.

The updated climate goals are intended to show British “leadership on the climate challenge,” he said.

- ‘We cannot accept it’ -

Washington’s delegation meanwhile sought to reassure partners that US efforts on global warming would not end under Trump, who has pledged to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate deal.

US climate advisor Ali Zaidi said the country was now on a “secular and sustained trajectory on our emissions,” and Washington was “very focused on achieving a good result” at COP29.

The meeting’s top priority is landing a hard-fought deal to boost funding for climate action in developing countries.

These nations – from low-lying islands to fractured states at war – are least responsible for climate change but most at risk from rising seas, extreme weather and economic shocks.

Some are pushing for the existing pledge of $100 billion a year to be raised ten-fold at COP29 to cover the future cost of their nations shifting to clean energy and adapting to climate shocks.

Adonia Ayebare, the Ugandan chair of a bloc that groups over 100 mostly developing countries and China, said they had already rejected a draft deal on the table at Baku.

“We cannot accept it and we asked them to produce a new text,” he told AFP.

Nations have haggled over this for years, with disagreements over how much should be paid, and who should pay it.

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.

Leaders from climate-vulnerable countries including the Maldives warned: “we need the finance COP to deliver.”

“We see funds flowing freely to wage war, but scrutinised when its for climate adaption,” said Mohamed Muizzu, president of the archipelago.

- ‘A deal is a must’ -

The small group of developed countries that currently contributes the money wants the donor pool expanded to include other rich nations and top emitters, including China and the Gulf states, something firmly rejected by Beijing.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said developing nations “must not leave Baku empty-handed”.

“A deal is a must,” he said.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has tried to convince rich countries that climate finance is not charity, but a downpayment on a safer, wealthier planet.

“The climate crisis is fast becoming an economy killer,” he warned.

“Climate action is global inflation insurance.”

He also sought to reassure the talks that recent “political events” would not derail global climate diplomacy.

“Our process is strong. It’s robust, and it will endure.”

Around 50,000 people are attending summit in Azerbaijan, a petrostate wedged between Russia and Iran, including the leaders of many African, Asian and Latin American countries beset by climate disasters.