India Seeks Fair, Ambitious Outcome at UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya

India has restated its faith in climate multilateralism at the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is under way in Antalya in Turkiye. Delivering the country's opening statement, Narendra Bhooshan, Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, called for an outcome that is fair, equitable and ambitious, and anchored India's position in equity and in the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities, shortened to CBDR-RC.

Where India stands

India thanked Turkiye and Australia for steering COP31 and praised the negotiating groups for their work in holding the multilateral process together. It placed itself alongside the statements of the G77 and China grouping, the Like Minded Developing Countries and the BASIC group. The Convention and the Paris Agreement, India said, remain the widest platforms available, because on them every country, however small, gets a voice.

A COP of Implementation

The Presidency has set out its vision for the session as a COP of Implementation, resting on three words: Dialogue, Consensus and Action. India welcomed that framing and read each word in turn. Dialogue, it said, builds trust between parties; consensus gives every country a share in owning the outcome; and action is what turns promises made at conferences into change on the ground.

Equity, just transition and adaptation

With warming now in danger of crossing the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold, India argued that equity has become an urgent matter rather than a debating point, so that no country and no community is left behind. It said it would keep contributing its fair share to global action while pursuing the development and well-being of its own people. Just transition and the meeting of adaptation needs, India added, are still heavy burdens for the Global South, where they cannot be separated from the task of development itself.

The finance demand

On money, India was direct. Public finance from the developed world remains the trigger for climate action in developing countries and for stronger flows of adaptation finance to cover their vulnerabilities. India stressed Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, the provision that places on developed countries the obligation to provide financial resources to developing countries, and said it would work with every party for a fair and ambitious result.