Climate finance failure by developed nations hurts NDCs: India at COP30

India on Saturday sharply criticised developed countries for failing to meet their climate finance obligations, warning that developing nations cannot deliver on their climate goals without "predictable, transparent and reliable" financial support.

Speaking on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) at the third high-level ministerial dialogue on climate finance at COP30 in Brazil's Belem, India said climate finance is a critical enabler of climate action in developing countries.

"Without financial resources from developed countries, developing countries cannot achieve the level of mitigation and adaptation necessary to meet the NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions)," India's negotiator Suman Chandra said.

NDCs are national climate plans under the Paris Agreement that set targets to cut emissions and adapt to climate change, guiding global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Countries are required to submit their third round of NDCs, referred to as "NDCs 3.0", for the 2031-2035 period this year.

India is yet to submit its updated NDCs.

The country said the Paris Agreement created clear legal responsibilities for developed nations to provide climate finance to developing countries.

"The provisions of finance under Article 9.1 are a legal obligation of developed countries and not a voluntary act," Chandra said, adding that Article 9.3 further requires them to lead in mobilising finance.

Yet, she said, developed nations have neither honoured these obligations nor ensured transparency or predictability in the financial flows they report.

India again strongly criticised the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), or the new global finance goal adopted at COP29 in Baku last year.

It said the NCQG decision was a "suboptimal" outcome with no clear commitment from developed countries, making it impossible for developing nations to meet their NDCs.

India said the NCQG "specifically refers to Article 9.3, with the legal mandate under Article 9.1 going completely unaddressed". The outcome was "inadequate" and "incomplete" and "at best a deflection of the responsibilities of the developed countries", it said.

At this year's climate conference, developing countries have demanded that Article 9.1 be included on the official agenda for formal negotiations.

Brazil, the host country, instead proposed holding informal consultations on this issue and three other politically sensitive topics, including unilateral trade measures such as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), to narrow differences before a stocktake meeting on Saturday.

India also said many developed countries have supplied outdated information in their biennial reports. "In our understanding, or any rational understanding, [this] does not translate into predictability," it said.

India also highlighted that "certain developed countries reported a decrease in financial support compared to the previous years, with reductions ranging from 51 to 75 per cent and 76 to 100 per cent, respectively".

It said there continues to be a lack of consistency among developed countries in defining what constitutes new and additional climate finance, as well as a "failure to distinguish between development finance and climate finance".

India said grants and highly concessional resources under Article 9.1 are essential to lower the cost of capital and support sustainable investments in developing countries.

Strengthening the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC through higher replenishments, efficiency improvements, and the removal of conditionalities would significantly improve resource flows, it said.

India added that while innovative tools such as blended finance can help under Article 9.3, they cannot replace the core legal obligations under Article 9.1.

It stressed that financial support must be "predictable, additional and devoid of concerns of greenwashing" for the Paris Agreement to progress.

India also backed calls for multi-year, quantified projections from developed countries, supported by clear methodologies, to ensure reliability.