ISAS Briefs

Summary

The 30th Conference of the Parties is taking place against a complex geopolitical backdrop, with several developed countries reassessing their climate strategies amid economic and energy security pressures. India is expected to lead the demands of the Global South for enhanced and easily accessible climate finance, strengthen technology transfer and safeguard the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Ultimately deft diplomatic manoeuvring will be the order of the day.

The 30th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP), taking place from 10 to 21 for November 2025 in Belém, Brazil, is being held at a critical inflection point for the global climate change regime. Brazil has positioned COP30 as the COP of “adaptation”, with the summit focusing on the major concern voiced by developing countries of mobilising reliable, predictable finance and technical support so vulnerable communities can adapt, survive and thrive as warming accelerates. For India, a country balancing urgent development needs with a long-term low-carbon transition, the summit’s agenda crystallises into a few interlocking priorities: scaling up climate finance, operationalising equitable finance mechanisms, strengthening technology transfer and capacity building and safeguarding the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR). Each priority is rooted in India’s development realities and its diplomatic strategy at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Climate finance stands at the top of the list. India has repeatedly argued that the current flows of public and private climate finance fall far short of what developing countries need to both mitigate emissions and adapt to unavoidable impacts. India’s negotiators will press for clearer, predictable commitments from the developed countries on concessional finance, faster disbursement of pledged funds, and operational pathways to mobilise the scale of investments that are assessed to be necessary. India will press for simpler access procedures for multilateral funds, greater allocation for adaptation (not just mitigation) and clearer rules to leverage private capital without saddling poorer countries with untenable debt. These themes have been central to India’s public interventions in the lead-up to Belém.

Closely linked to finance is adaptation. The COP’s adaptation emphasis aligns with India’s experience: recurrent floods, heatwaves, droughts and cyclone impacts are already imposing human and economic costs across regions. India’s demands therefore go beyond headline pledges; they include doubling adaptation finance commitments, creating instruments for direct access by states and cities, funding for nature-based solutions (mangroves, watershed management, urban green infrastructure) and scaled support for agricultural resilience, water security and climate-proofed infrastructure. India also emphasises integrating adaptation finance into development planning; for instance, linking irrigation, aquifer recharge and rural livelihood programmes with climate resilience funding to reduce duplication and maximise impact. Indian think-tanks such as The Energy and Resources Institute have underlined the push for adaptation finance and resilient investments as a central COP30 objective.

Another significant priority for India and other emerging economies is loss and damage recognition, operational funding and access. For countries with large vulnerable populations, loss and damage is no longer an abstract legal argument. It has become a material reality with irreversible losses to ecosystems, cultural heritage and livelihoods. Keeping in view past experiences, India is bound to press for practical mechanisms that translate pledges into rapid, accessible financial support for communities that have exhausted adaptation options. This means stronger windows for loss and damage within climate funds, clearer eligibility criteria that protect vulnerable groups and instruments that work at subnational levels where the impacts are felt most acutely. The operationalisation of these mechanisms remains politically sensitive, but their design will be a litmus test at COP30 on the UNFCCC system’s ability to deliver solidarity in practice.

Technology transfer, capacity building and just transition are central to India’s negotiating posture. India has set ambitious domestic goals, including a target to reach net zero by 2070 and significant expansion of non-fossil energy capacity. However, achieving these goals requires the transfer of low-carbon technologies, affordable green finance and skills development. At COP30, India will press for strengthened South-South cooperation and for the removal of intellectual property, financing and institutional barriers that slow technology diffusion. Additionally, India is expected to advocate for just transition finance that supports workers and communities in fossil-fuel-dependent regions, ensuring the social dimensions of decarbonisation receive attention alongside technical solutions.

Finally, equity and the CBDR principle remain the diplomatic backbone of India’s stance. It has repeatedly stressed that climate action must be fair in the sense that historic emitters bear greater responsibility, and the needs of developing countries for growth, poverty eradication, and energy access cannot be side-lined. In practical terms, this translates into calls for developed countries to scale up concessional finance, to meet and exceed previous commitments (including the long-standing US$100 billion (S$135 billion) pledge and subsequent targets) and to avoid pushing debt-heavy private finance models that shift risk onto recipient nations. India’s negotiators will also push for rules that recognise differentiated capacities and development priorities when operationalising mitigation and finance frameworks.

It needs no emphasis that COP30 will be shaped not only by formal negotiations but by the political atmosphere surrounding Brazil’s hosting, including controversies over fossil fuel development domestically and the ability of major emitters to convert pledges into credible finance and policy action. For India, the summit is an opportunity to push a pragmatic, development-sensitive climate agenda: one that secures resources and technologies for adaptation and low-carbon growth while defending equity for the Global South. If Belém produces concrete pathways for adaptation finance and loss and damage support that are predictable, accessible and sufficiently scaled, it will mark a real advance from rhetoric to implementation and a diplomatic win for India and other developing nations who have long called for climate justice in practice.

In conclusion, India’s COP30 priorities are clear: mobilise large-scale climate finance (with a focus on adaptation), operationalise loss and damage mechanisms, accelerate technology transfer and capacity building and uphold equity reflecting historical responsibilities and development needs. The outcome in Belém will hinge on how effectively India and its partners turn these goals into concrete, financially viable actions that deliver real support to vulnerable communities.

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Mr Vinod Rai is a former Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), an autonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also a former Comptroller and Auditor General of India. He can be contacted at raivinod@hotmail.com. The author bears full responsibility for the facts cited and opinions expressed in this paper.

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