The preparations for next week’s Rio +20 Earth Summit received a minor setback as reports emerged that officials from developing nations had briefly walked out of talks in protest at the lack of progress on the funding and technology transfer agreements widely regarded as necessary to deliver green growth in poorer countries.

According to the Guardian, negotiators from the G77 bloc of developing countries and China walked out of a working group on the green economy track of the negotiations, which is attempting to complete the draft negotiating text for the summit before environment ministers and world leaders arrive next week.

They were protesting at industrialised nations’ reluctance to support new funding commitments and clean technology transfer agreements, which they argue will be necessary if proposed sustainable development goals are to be met. The group has been calling for a new $30bn a year sustainable development fund to be included as part of any Rio agreement, but the proposals are being blocked by cash-strapped industrialised nations who are refusing to approve further funding.

Speaking to reporters, Ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueirdo, Under Secretary at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, said a successful agreement will require some commitments on how sustainable development goals are to be implemented.

“We cannot be held hostage to the retraction resulting from financial crises in rich countries. We are here to think about the long term and not about crises that may be overcome in one or two years,” he said.

“As we know, every recommendation of action requires a clear idea of the means available to enable the implementation of these recommendations. Finding the means are at the core of these negotiations.”

The stance of Brazil and other developing nations raises the prospect of a stand-off next week between poorer nations keen to see industrialised countries back up sustainable development commitments with direct funding and developed economies that are reluctant to put significant new sums of financing on the table.

However, Figueiredo acknowledged progress was being made in other areas of the negotiations, noting that talks on proposals for a new set of Sustainable Development Goals were well advanced.

In related news, a group of businesses with a collective turnover of more than $350bn have called on governments to take action at Rio to better protect natural capital services, such as freshwater provision and soil fertility.

“The choice between economic development and sustaining natural capital is a false one,” said Martin Roberts, director of the University of Cambridge’s Natural Capital Leadership Platform, whose members include Unilever, Mars, SABMiller and ASDA-Walmart.

“Businesses’ bottom line - and that of our entire global society - is built on products and services provided by natural capital.”