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.
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. 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. 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.
JWT seeks to reskill workers dependent on the fossil-fuel economy and steer them towards green jobs. Mr. 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.
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. 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. “Among the successes that we have had is reducing the number of parameters down to 59 from the nearly thousand,” Mr. Yadav said.
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. 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.
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.
