World collectively needs to hike climate finance: India at COP30

Belem: India is committed to domestic adaptation as part of climate action but there is an urgent need for a scaled-up adaptation finance as the global gap widens, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said here.

Yadav also said that the annual climate summit, COP30, must deliver a clear political message that “adaptation is not an optional add-on but an essential investment.”

“The 2025 Adaptation Gap Report estimates that developing countries will need between USD 310-365 billion annually by 2035, while current flows are around USD 26 billion only,” he said during his intervention at the Baku High-Level Dialogue on Adaptation on Thursday at the ongoing UN COP30 summit.

Yadav expressed concern that the Glasgow Climate Pact goal of doubling public adaptation finance from 2019 levels to around USD 40 billion by 2025 is likely to be missed if the current trend continues.

“It will take nothing less than a global collective effort to increase climate finance to the levels articulated in the Baku to Belem Roadmap to USD 1.3 trillion,” the environment minister added.

He highlighted India's efforts and experiences in accessing adaptation finance, the barriers faced by developing countries and the global steps needed to raise adaptation ambition.

Marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, he underscored the importance of Article 7.6, which emphasises support for developing countries in taking effective adaptation action.

The 2015 Paris Agreement aims at substantially reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to hold global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (with a baseline 1850-1900).

Negotiators from more than 190 countries who have gathered here for the annual Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- the COP30 summit – are finalising a draft proposal by host Brazil as the conference draws towards its end.

The minister stressed on the urgent need for an increased adaptation finance as the global gap widens and stressed that a predictable, scaled-up, grant-based and concessional financial support is essential.

Despite these challenges, he reaffirmed India's strong domestic commitment to adaptation and stated that the country continues to mainstream adaptation through national and state-level planning backed by domestic resources.

“As a percentage of GDP, India's adaptation-relevant expenditure increased by over 150 per cent over seven years from 2016-17 to 2022-23. Internationally, India has strengthened its ability to access climate finance through readiness support and institutional capacity-building of accredited entities,” the minister said.

Highlighting barriers to adaptation finance, he pointed to the complex and slow processes associated with multilateral climate funds and noted factors such as high transaction costs, limited institutional capacity delays, absence of clear revenue streams and inadequate risk-sharing instruments constraining private finance.

The minister urged the global community to address these systemic hurdles. Climate finance refers to local, national or transnational financing – drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing – that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions to address climate change. The UNFCCC says that the Convention and the Paris Agreement among other similar agreements call for financial assistance from Parties with more financial resources – the rich countries – to the less endowed and more vulnerable poor and developing countries.

Yadav reaffirmed India's principled view that adaptation must be country-driven, gender-responsive, inclusive, and rooted in science and traditional knowledge.

Highlighting the key takeaways on adaptation from the summit, he stressed that COP30 must deliver a clear political message that adaptation is not an optional add-on but an essential investment.

The environment minister reaffirmed that adaptation and mitigation are complementary pillars of the Paris Agreement and progress on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) must remain country-driven and nationally determined.

Looking ahead to COP31, Yadav said: “Indicators should remain voluntary, non-prescriptive and subject to national interpretation, and frameworks must avoid creating additional reporting burdens and respect diverse national contexts.” The minister called for an enhanced readiness support, streamlined access to financial mechanisms and reduction in transaction costs for developing countries.

“A stronger enabling environment would help scale locally proven solutions, integrate risk assessment into planning, and accelerate investments in agriculture, water security, resilient infrastructure and ecosystem-based approaches.

“Adaptation Finance must improve in both quantity and quality and must be provided through grants and not debt-creating instruments,” he added.