PARIS — As the Paris climate talks enter the last stretch, there is political will among the major emitters as well as other parties to seal a deal, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli late yesterday night, adding that it is the minor issues to do with drafting language that can sometimes disrupt the process.

Speaking to Singaporean reporters towards the end of his visit to Paris to attend COP21 (21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — UNFCCC), the Minister said major emitters including the United States, China and the European Union have forged substantive agreement of the broad principles of a new climate change framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2020.

“But when it comes down to the nitty gritty of the agreement itself — the actual wordings and language — that is where things can get unravelled,” he said. “The broad principles by leaders are always nice to hear. But when people read what is legally binding for each party, they may get upset (that it may not be entirely in their interests).”

Negotiations in Paris yesterday inched a step closer to the finishing line, with the draft accord being pared down to a 29-page document, from 48 pages at the weekend. This came after several days of intense negotiations among more than 190 foreign and environment ministers.

But key outstanding issues remain unresolved. These include differentiation, or how countries are divided in the UNFCCC as Annex One developed countries and Non-Annex One developing countries, with the former expected to take on greater responsibilities as well as whether to aim to stop global temperatures rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels or push for a more ambitious 1.5°C target. The modalities through which developed countries will fund the actions taken by developing countries to address climate change are also yet to be finalised.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is presiding over the talks, released the updated draft agreement yesterday at 3pm local time, two hours after a self-imposed deadline.

Mr Fabius had announced on Sunday that he would set up a committee of foreign and environment ministers to carry out informal consultations around several clusters of outstanding issues. The consultations were subsequently expanded to cover more issues, sparking concern about the slow progress of the negotiations as parties attempt to meet a self-imposed deadline of sealing a deal by tomorrow.

In what may be an attempt to inject momentum into the negotiations and secure the buy in of developing countries, American Secretary of State John Kerry announced late yesterday a proposal to double Washington’s grant-based public finance for climate-change adaptation by 2020 to US$860 million (S$1.2 billion), up from US$430 million.

Mr Masagos noted that the updated draft represents an attempt to reduce the amount of variability in the agreement. But it is still too early to say that the draft will be accepted by all parties. “It is difficult to say where we are and where we are going. Tonight, there will probably be a heated argument (on the divergent issues),” he said, referring to the continuing informal consultations.

Reflecting on his visit to France as a whole, where he also met his counterparts from other countries, civil society and businesses, the Minister said he is now “better educated” on climate change.

Mr Masagos took over the environment portfolio in October following the general election. Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan is leading the Singapore delegation at the Paris climate talks and has been tasked by Mr Fabius to coordinate informal consultations on differentiation.

Mr Masagos said Singapore has been able to play an effective role in large multilateral settings such as the UNFCCC because of the Republic’s reputation for neutrality. “We have a history of depositing confidence in the people we work with — our objectivity and neutrality in getting parties together when it needs substantive work,” he noted.

He said Singapore has never betrayed the trust by other countries and “we have always been looked at as that neutral party who they can look on to intercede for them in very difficult matters, and even in this particular negotiation where Vivian has been tasked to look at differentiation, which is one of the hot potatoes.

“What Singapore has brought to this Convention, I think it has been very appreciated by most parties.”