An uneasy deal has been reached at the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil, which makes no mention of pledges to cut fossil fuels.
The compromise climate deal would boost finance for poor nations coping with global warming, but omitted any mention of the fossil fuels driving it.
Labour's Deborah Russell says 83 countries had signed a roadmap pushing for the end of fossil fuels during the conference in Belem.
New Zealand only signed up to the main climate action agreement which omitted the words fossil fuels, Russell said.
She was unsure why New Zealand had not signed the agreement, but said comparable OCED countries Ireland and Denmark did.
"I think we look foolish on the world stage for not signing up to phase out fossil fuels. We cannot plant enough trees to mitigate the impact of the fossil fuels we use in this country.
"We simply have to reduce our usage of fossil fuels - and yet this government won't commit to doing that."
Several countries attempted to stop the conference from wrapping up - including Colombia. Its representative, Irene Velez Torres, wanted a reference to fossil fuels put back in.
To push the deal through, COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago promised fossil fuels could be raised at a future meeting in six months' time.
