BELEM, Brazil – The UN climate conference COP30 in Brazil has officially gone into overtime, with no deal on the table at the close of Nov 21, the supposed end of the two-week conference.
As countries continue to lock horns over a laundry list of issues – a key one being a stronger commitment to phase out fossil fuels – Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said in an interview that the Republic is still hopeful that countries will come to a consensus.
She added that leaving the conference with some agreement is better than none. This comes as other parties
refused to back down
on their stance on fossil fuels, with some saying that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
A member of the European Parliament’s delegation to COP30, Mr Bas Eickhout, said on Nov 21 that the “failure to reach an agreement on a road map to transition away from fossil fuels would not only be a big win for petrostates, but also for Trump and his hard-right allies”.
At a press conference that morning led by Colombia, Panama’s special representative for climate change Juan Carlos Moneterrey Gomez said: “Failing to name the causes of the climate crisis is not compromise. It’s denial. It’s criminal.”
Meanwhile, France’s Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told AFP that the fossil fuel-dependent economies of Russia, Saudi Arabia and India, along with many emerging countries, are against the phase-out.
Speaking to Singapore media less than two hours before the talks were due to officially wrap up on Nov 21, Ms Fu said the feedback from different negotiating groups has been “very strong”, adding: “We still have some work to do, as far as I can see.”
Calling the debate over fossil fuels “one of the most contentious issues right now”, she said Singapore is prepared to stay with the status quo where no road map to phase out fossil fuels is mentioned in the final conference outcome, as this will help overcome the deadlock.
“We don’t really have much skin in this game, because in general, we are agreeing on decarbonisation, and we are agreeing that we need to decarbonise our power sector,” she added.
For Singapore, a deal is still important at this point in time, she said.
“It’s so important for us to show that COP is relevant, and that COP remains the only place and the place for all parties around the world to have that discussion,” she added.
“So for me, we will try as much as possible to land and to land at a good place.”
At COP30, one of the closely watched issues is how fossil fuels – the burning of which is the main driver of modern climate change – will be referenced in the final outcome.
Despite being at the heart of the climate crisis, fossil fuels are historically
