Background
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), held in November 2025 in Belém, Brazil, was widely criticised by scientists, civil society groups, and vulnerable nations as a failure to deliver mandatory or ambitious climate action. The reasons are: (a) No Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Roadmap (b) Weakened Climate Finance and Adaptation Goals (c) Absence of Major Emitters (d) Missing National Commitments (e) Fossil Fuel vs Civil Society Imbalance (f) Offloaded Agreements instead of Core UN Mandates. .
COP31 in the Context of Evolving Global Climate Governance
In such a background, the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), being held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9–20 November 2026, comes at a critical juncture in international climate diplomacy, where we see an ever-increasing gap between climate commitments and their actual implementation. The central challenge confronting global climate governance is the distribution of responsibilities, financial resources, technological capabilities and economic costs associated with addressing it. While climate change is a global phenomenon, its consequences are disproportionately experienced by developing countries, particularly those with high population densities, significant dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods and limited financial capacity to absorb climate-related losses. COP31 takes place against the backdrop of persistent shortcomings in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Although the agreement established a framework for limiting global warming to well below 2°C while pursuing efforts to restrict it to 1.5°C, the collective ambition and implementation of national climate commitments remain insufficient. But, Global average surface temperatures are approximately 1.47°C above the pre-industrial average for the first nine months of 2026, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
What is the progress of COP 31 so far?
· COP31 adopted a standalone Climate Finance Work Programme (CFWP), a key demand of developing countries, including India, despite objections from the EU.
· Proposals for separate discussions on tripling adaptation finance and climate-related trade measures were dropped.
· Developing countries face annual adaptation needs of $305 billion by 2035, while international public adaptation finance stood at just $28.2-31.7 billion in 2024.
· India and other developing countries are pushing for predictable, accessible climate finance and greater accountability for developed countries’ commitments.
The compromise averted a prolonged procedural dispute but exposed continuing differences between developed and developing countries over climate finance obligations, adaptation funding and unilateral trade measures. The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) agreed at COP29 in Baku in 2024 calls on developed countries to take the lead in mobilising at least $300 billion annually for developing countries by 2035. It also calls on all actors to scale up climate finance from public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion annually by the same year. At COP 31, the EU and other developed countries have agreed to implement the same, but India needs to be active that it does not remain a mere wish list before COP 32, as the adaptation finance gap is huge.
India’s Position: Climate Justice and the Principle of Equity
India’s approach to climate negotiations is fundamentally shaped by the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC). This principle recognises that countries share responsibility for addressing climate change but possess different historical contributions, economic capacities and developmental circumstances. Industrialised economies accumulated substantial wealth through carbon-intensive industrialisation over a much longer period. Developing countries, meanwhile, continue to face the challenge of expanding infrastructure, generating employment, improving energy access and reducing poverty. India’s argument is that climate action must not become a mechanism for transferring the economic burden of decarbonisation onto developing countries. India has achieved substantial progress in reaching its international targets, reduction of emissions, non-fossil fuel capacity, creation of carbon sinks, often ahead of its time. At COP31, India has identified predictable climate finance, technology transfer, adaptation, just transition and nationally determined mitigation pathways as important negotiating priorities. India’s position is that climate ambition must be accompanied by equitable means of implementation. India played a significant role in defending the inclusion of the CFWP and pressing for discussions on adaptation finance. India has said it will work with the G77 and China, the Like-Minded Developing Countries group and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) to advance developing countries’ interests. The real success of COP31 will lie in whether it helps transform climate diplomacy from a negotiation over promises.
Ending with a quotation from the famous poet, Robert Frost
“But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep”
Indian Chamber of Commerce