Singapore: Don't Expect New Emissions Targets at COP31 — Deliver on Promises Already Made

The United Nations climate conference COP31 opens on November 9 in Antalya, Turkey, running for 12 days with delegations from nearly 200 countries. Singapore's environment minister Grace Fu said before the talks that they are unlikely to yield new greenhouse gas reduction targets, and that negotiations should focus on implementing commitments already made under the Paris Agreement: “We have enough to work on.” (Image: file photo of Singapore's Marina Bay.)

Fu: talks are fragmented and leadership is missing

Fu said delegates will negotiate on electrification, limiting the rise in global temperatures and climate finance; despite “headwinds”, including energy security concerns arising from the US-Israeli war against Iran, there is room for progress on climate adaptation and for separate agreements outside the main negotiation process. She said the talks are now “a lot more fragmented”, with US President Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris pact still weighing on the process; five years ago, countries were more prepared to spend political capital on solutions, but are now “more distracted”, and she does not see leadership emerging at this COP to drive drastic change.

Broadening the funding base in focus; Singapore tightened its haze law first

The conference also faces calls to broaden the climate finance funding base: now-prosperous economies such as China and Middle East petrostates are still classified as developing countries and are not obliged to contribute. Fu's Panamanian counterpart recently criticised the unanimity rule, saying it lets a single delegation “torpedo” progress. Singapore itself spent much of October under hazardous haze from wildfires in Indonesia; last week it amended its transboundary haze law to give authorities more power to punish those responsible. Fu said she hoped prosecution would not be needed: “The fact that it's there will just make businesses realise that there are consequences.”