BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. Singapore is ready to allocate up to $500 million for climate projects under the FAST-P (Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership) program, Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said in her national address at the COP29 in Baku, Trend reports.
"These funds will be used to attract additional concessional capital from public, private, and philanthropic sources, which will serve as a critical catalyst to increase private investments in green and transition projects," she said.
Despite the challenges in the alternative energy field, Singapore has increased its solar energy capacity fivefold since 2019. The country is actively working to enhance energy efficiency across all sectors, including industry and transport.
The minister also emphasized that climate change knows no borders, and cross-border cooperation is essential to achieving global goals.
"We are actively collaborating with our neighbors to create an ASEAN power grid, which plays a key role in the energy transition in our region," she noted.
On the global stage, Singapore is working with ports worldwide to implement low-carbon fuels in the shipping industry as part of decarbonization efforts. The country is also contributing to climate adaptation and mitigation knowledge and capacity through the Singapore Cooperation Programme and climate research initiatives.
"We are also working with partners to create an effective carbon market, which includes facilitating negotiations under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and fostering the flow of high-quality carbon credits," Fu added.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will run until November 22, opened at the Baku Olympic Stadium on November 11. It is the largest event organized by Azerbaijan to date, and the first time in the region that it is being held in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action – was held on November 12–13.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 Presidency has launched 14 initiatives that include linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, harmony for climate resilience, clean hydrogen, methane reduction in organic waste, action on green digital technologies, and other topics.
In addition to being a top priority that creates the conditions for action, creating climate finance will also help fulfill the 1.5°C pledge by bringing everyone together.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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