PARIS, France (AFP) — There are growing doubts about a pledge by rich nations to provide more climate finance to poorer nations, as foreign aid budgets are slashed and the United States (US) guts environmental spending.

Richer nations committed at the United Nations COP29 summit in November to boost spending on climate action in developing countries to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate.

Since then, President Donald Trump has frozen US contributions to the global pot and withdrawn from a funding deal to help developing nations transition to clean energy, among other climate initiatives.

The United Kingdom, meanwhile, has trimmed overseas aid to raise defense spending, following a slew of similar cuts by climate-friendly governments in Europe.

Diplomats and analysts say it remains unclear where the axe may fall, but there are fears that money earmarked for climate finance could be on the chopping block.

Laetitia Pettinotti, a climate economist from the think tank ODI Global, told Agence France-Presse that signs are not good and cuts could be expected.

“It’s really hard to see where the money is going to come from,” she said.