India urges focus on adaptation of climate commitments at pre-COP30 meet

Union Environment Minister said the key to achieving tangible outcomes in Belm lies in translating global policy commitments into practical, locally grounded solutions

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday said COP30 should be the "COP of Adaptation" and called for transforming climate commitments into real-world actions that directly improve people's lives.

At the Pre-COP30 Ministerial Roundtable in Braslia, Yadav said the 30th UN climate summit in Belm, Brazil, in November must send a strong signal that multilateralism remains the cornerstone of global climate action.

"As we mark a decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, COP30 must send a resolute political message that multilateralism remains the cornerstone of global climate action," Yadav said.

He said the key to achieving tangible outcomes in Belm lies in translating global policy commitments into practical, locally grounded solutions.

"The focus must be on transforming climate commitments into real-world actions that accelerate implementation and directly improve people's lives," he said.

Calling for a stronger focus on resilience and local adaptation, Yadav stressed that "COP30 should be the COP of Adaptation".

He said all countries should agree on a minimum package of indicators under the UAE-Belem Work Programme.

"We should send an inspiring message to the world with the Baku Adaptation Road Map, that we are on the way to ensuring the safety and well-being of billions, leaving no one behind," he added.

Yadav also stressed the urgent need to strengthen and intensify the flow of public finance towards adaptation, which could encourage additional support from other sources.

He said the Paris Agreement mechanism is now fully functional and warned against introducing new processes after the Global Stocktake that could undermine its architecture.

"Let us be informed by the first GST and do our utmost as per our national circumstances," he said.

Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's view that India seeks to be part of the solution, not the problem, Yadav highlighted India's global initiatives, such as the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Big Cat Alliance, as examples of cooperative and action-oriented multilateralism.

"Let COP30 in Belm reaffirm faith in multilateralism, equity and collective resolve to deliver real, measurable action for people and the planet," Yadav concluded.

The two-day pre-COP brings together environment and climate ministers, senior negotiators and observers to narrow differences on politically sensitive topics and try to build ministerial consensus ahead of the UN climate conference in Belm.

Ministers use pre-COPs to test negotiating text, identify shared ground on sensitive matters and prepare ministerial positions so that negotiations at the main COP can advance faster.

Pre-COPs are not formal UNFCCC events but have become routine host-country instruments to focus ministerial attention on a short list of political questions that negotiators otherwise take weeks to resolve.

COP30 is taking place against a complex geopolitical backdrop, with the United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and several developed countries reassessing their climate strategies amid economic and energy security pressures.

In the run-up to the annual climate meeting, disagreements over climate finance, the pace and responsibility for the energy transition and burdens on developing countries remain sharp.

Trust between developed and developing countries remains weak after COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where many in the Global South said the finance outcome fell short of needs and expectations.

At the core of this divide are disagreements over the scale and nature of climate finance, whether it should be provided as grants or loans and how predictable and usable new funds will be for adaptation and loss and damage.

These financial tensions are central to what delegates will debate in Braslia and later in Belm.

Observers also expect a heated debate over rules and integrity for international carbon trading under Article 6, stronger attention to adaptation, including national adaptation plans and discussions on how to translate the Global Stocktake into time-bound action.

Loss and damage finance and how to make it predictable and accessible will also be high on the agenda. These are the issues that ministers are likely to try to narrow in Braslia.