November 25, 2025
The government highlighted the legal duty of developed nations to provide public climate finance under Article 9.1
New Delhi flagged the decline in overseas development aid and uncertainty over the pledged 300 billion dollars from Baku
The LMDC group, including India, pressed for formal discussions on developed countries’ finance obligations
A compromise proposal combining LMDC concerns with broader finance discussions resolved the negotiation deadlock at COP30
At COP30, India sought to remind negotiators that climate action could not be reduced to energy transitions or fossil fuel debates alone. The delegation emphasised that climate change was also a question of development and human well-being, and argued that this perspective was essential if global action was to accelerate.
Environment minister Bhupender Yadav told the ministerial gathering that developing countries needed adequate policy space to close development gaps, manage systemic vulnerabilities, and safeguard public welfare, in line with their national contexts and stages of growth. His intervention framed development space as a prerequisite for effective climate action.
Ahead of COP30, India identified a central concern: the legal obligation of developed countries under Article 9.1 to provide public financial support to developing nations for both emissions reduction and adaptation. This issue had become urgent as several developed countries reduced overseas development aid, and the United States halted it entirely. India also highlighted the absence of clarity on how the 300 billion dollars promised in Baku in 2024 would be mobilised, as well as the limited flow of private and leveraged funds to developing economies. These factors strengthened the case for renewed focus on public finance commitments.
India, working through the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, which includes China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bolivia, has been advocating since 2023 for formal agenda space to discuss the legal obligations of developed countries. Developed countries resisted this push. Some argued that climate finance was already addressed across several negotiation tracks and within the Standing Committee on Finance. The EU remained more open to discussing finance, but did not support narrowing the agenda to Article 9.1 alone. For the EU, the LMDC proposal appeared to reopen the agreement on climate finance concluded in Baku. They preferred a broad conversation on finance, but some countries, including China, opposed widening the scope, as it could draw attention to voluntary South–South finance flows.
This disagreement stalled progress during the mid-year Bonn session. At COP30, however, negotiators reached a resolution. The final compromise drew on a Swiss proposal from Bonn and incorporated elements of the LMDC position. Indian negotiator Suman Chandra said the delegation believed it had secured meaningful space to address the question of finance from developed countries, even though the work programme did not focus exclusively on Article 9.1.
Over the two-week conference, India also reiterated its call for developed countries to strengthen their mitigation efforts, including advancing their net-zero timelines.
Source: Economic Times