A TOP United Nations official warned on Sunday that time is running out to get results as the Cop30 climate talks enter the final stretch.

Speaking as the climate negotiations in the Brazilian city of Belem entered the final week, UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell, hinted that there were impasses over critical issues such as providing climate finance and transitioning away from fossil fuels, and urged the negotiators to push further to find compromises.

Mr Stiell appealed to negotiators to make it as easy as possible for governments to compromise by pushing themselves further and sticking to the painstaking yet crucial work behind the scenes.

He told the negotiators from 194 countries, plus the EU, that if they do not align and find common ground on issues important to others, then Cop30 will not deliver outcomes that show the Paris Climate Agreement is working.

He said: “It is not clear if every national negotiating team is prepared to be at the table discussing the critical issues, but the negotiations need to get past this point quickly.”

Mr Stiell said that without a deal there was a very real prospect of a “hotter, poorer and less healthy world, along with the human and economic losses caused by climate change.”

He added that this strongly underscores just how important it is for Cop30 to achieve a good outcome.

The executive secretary also appealed to negotiators to make progress on climate finance for poorer countries.

Mr Stiell said such assistance is the lifeblood of climate action, saying: “It is what turns climate plans into progress and climate ambition into implementation.”

He emphasised that providing climate finance is not an act of charity by rich nations.