It’s official: the climate change talks that were expected to finish on Friday were extended at least into Saturday as member countries pushed to tie up loose ends in the decisions made.

The sticking issue was compensation of non-emitters carbon – mainly developing countries in Africa and Latin America.

The issue was canvassed under loss-and-damage finance. The funding for low- and middle-income countries that are facing irreversible climate-related destruction – remains on a knife-edge. But the gap between the entreaties of high- and low-emitting countries is narrowing.

By late Friday night, the European Union attempted to bridge divides. Its big idea is for a fund (officially called a ‘facility’) into which donor countries could pay as much, or as little, as they wanted.

“It’s a canny move,” says Nature’s Ehsan Masood. “It would appeal to both China and the United States. Neither country would be obligated to pay – and would prefer not to.”

But a fund without the high emitters would be a non-fund, say campaigners and some countries. There’s no time for sleep, as delegates prepare to work through the night.

• A Tell report