Predictable climate finance, equitable transition on India’s COP31 agenda

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta looks on as Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav virtually inaugurates 13 new Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS). File. (Photo: X/@byadavbjp)

Predictable climate finance, technology transfer, and nationally determined approaches to climate mitigation and adaptation will comprise India’s key demands at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP31). Underlining a long-standing position, India will reiterate that developed countries must fulfil their financial obligations to developing nations.

India is not inclined towards language suggesting “fossil fuel cuts or phase-out” or restrictions, as it is already on a pathway to ramp up its share of renewable energy, increasing forest cover, and improving energy efficiency. 

These emerged at a press conference convened by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday (November 3, 2026), outlining India’s priorities ahead of the November 9-20 conference in Antalya, Turkey. India will also seek continuation of the Just Transition Work Programme (JWT) and “oppose attempts” to impose new, top-down mitigation targets on developing countries. JWT seeks to reskill workers dependent on the fossil-fuel economy and steer them towards green jobs.

Climate finance will be a central negotiating issue, with India seeking a decision to begin a Climate Finance Work Programme, a pathway mooted at COP 30 in Belém, Brazil, to operationalise this.

Mr. Yadav said finance provided by developed countries under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement must be “predictable, largely public and concessional”, and must not add to the debt burden of developing countries. Developing countries had sought at least $1-1.3 trillion annually in climate finance, with India arguing that the agreed $300 billion annual target by 2035 is grossly inadequate. Developed countries, while accepting the $300 billion goal with themselves taking the lead in mobilising it, favour reaching the larger $1.3 trillion figure through a combination of public and private finance, including contributions from multilateral development banks and voluntary contributors.

India will argue that indicators being developed under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) should remain voluntary and should not become conditions for accessing climate finance. The GGA, established under the Paris Agreement, seeks to strengthen countries’ capacity to adapt to climate impacts and assess progress towards that objective. “Among the successes that we have had is reducing the number of parameters down to 59 from the nearly thousand,” Mr. Yadav said.

Other major negotiating issues include mitigation, the second Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement – a five year assessment of countries’ progress – technology transfer and carbon markets under Article 6.

The agenda also includes the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage and the report of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), established to assist developing countries dealing with the economic and non-economic consequences of climate change.

The fund’s functioning will come under scrutiny after the devastating August 26 floods in Nepal. An ice-and-rock avalanche in the Himalayas triggered a massive flood that killed at least 1,400 people and caused extensive damage to infrastructure. Nepal’s estimated recovery and reconstruction requirement stand at $4.7 billion. The fund has provisionally set aside $21.6 million for the country, less than 1% of its estimated requirements.

India’s stated priorities do not include a specific negotiating position on the Nepal allocation, but the episode underscores the wider demand for adequate and accessible finance to address climate-related losses, officials added.

“The decision-making progress will be significantly influenced by Australia, which is handling the negotiations process of COP 31, and therefore issues by Pacific Islands States may be significant,” a person aware of the process told The Hindu.

At COP30 in Belém, the Alliance of Small Island States pressed for urgent emissions cuts to keep the 1.5°C warming limit within reach, framing it as an existential threat for countries threatened by rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and increasingly severe cyclones. 

India will coordinate with the G-77 and China, the Like-Minded Developing Countries grouping, and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, and China). It will also play a role in the mitigation negotiations, where it is a co-facilitator.

COP31 is expected to focus on translating existing commitments under the Paris Agreement into action, amid continuing disagreements over responsibility for financing the transition and addressing climate impacts.

Published - November 03, 2026 09:08 pm IST