SINGAPORE —
Efforts by the United States and others to persuade more countries to contribute to a new global climate financing initiative risks undermining the Paris agreement, Singapore’s Environment Minister Grace Fu told Reuters on Wednesday.
Nearly 200 nations will gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for COP29 climate talks on Monday to thrash out the details of a deal known as the New Collective Quantified Goal, designed to deliver billions of dollars of climate finance to the regions that need it the most.
But the United States, Europe and others will only commit to the fund if the list of countries contributing to it is widened to include the likes of China, South Korea and Singapore, and the resulting deadlock could block progress during the talks.
Fu said there were “tough negotiations” going on about the definition and structure of the fund but widening the donor base risks…
