India Sets Out COP31 Priorities on Climate Finance, Adaptation and Just Transition

Key facts

• UNFCCC COP31 will be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026, and Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav outlined India's priorities at a media briefing in New Delhi.
• India will approach COP31 with a solution-oriented vision for the Global South and will work closely with G-77 and China, LMDC and BASIC.
• India seeks a COP31 decision to commence the Climate Finance Work Programme, holding that finance is a developed-country obligation under Article 9.1 and must be predictable, largely public and concessional without adding debt burden.
• India will press for mitigation and the Global Stocktake to remain Party-driven, facilitative and non-punitive, respecting the nationally determined nature of NDCs and ruling out new top-down targets.
• India wants Global Goal on Adaptation indicators to remain voluntary and not condition access to finance, alongside scaled-up adaptation finance.
• India will support continuation of the Just Transition Work Programme through a Party-driven mechanism and stress that technology transfer is a developed-country obligation with cost, IPR and trade barriers addressed; carbon market participation should remain voluntary.
• India's COP31 engagements include LeadIT 3.0 with Sweden, high-level side events on coastal resilience, and panels on IBCA and forests.