A clear message from the UN climate chief: Fewer loopholes, much more money to really stop climate change

To keep the Earth from getting too hot, the world's nations must provide fewer loopholes in climate agreements and much more money - trillions of dollars a year - in financial aid for poor countries, the UN climate chief said on Friday. In an unusual and stark lecture at Baku University in Azerbaijan, the host city for upcoming international climate talks later this year, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell described past achievements as insufficient. According to him, without the proper amount of money, they could "quickly turn into empty promises."

A lot of that goes to money: $2.4 trillion a year, Stiell said. The UN's High Level Panel on Climate Finance has estimated that developing countries - except China - need to invest in renewable energy instead of dirtier fossil fuels, as well as to adapt to and recover from climate change damage such as floods. , storms, droughts and heat waves. ( More on  apnews.com, the author: (Seth Borenstein)