First Thing: Climate crisis funds ‘not delivered’ to countries in grave need

A woman examines withered maize crops in Kenya. Rich countries pledged at a UN summit in 2009 to give low-income states $100bn a year by 2020 to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. Photograph: Dong Jianghui Xinhua/Xinhua/Alamy

Good morning.

Billions of dollars ostensibly committed to addressing the impacts of the climate crisis in poorer countries are not being delivered, the UN’s humanitarian chief has declared. Martin Griffiths said he was “scrambling to try to understand” where a promised $100bn a year agreed at the UN climate change conference in 2009 by richer countries has gone.