India pushes for dialogue on climate finance, adaptation at Bonn climate talks

India has called for the shrinking climate finance pool and widening adaptation finance gap to be directly addressed in talks linked to the ongoing United Nations climate talks in Bonn, Germany. It called for the provision of the Paris Agreement, which requires developed countries to provide funding to developing countries, to be given special agenda space to ensure significant progress.

The intervention came with India’s announcement to 64^This The UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) session was chaired by Harkeerat Randhawa, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). India has been associated with positions taken on behalf of the Group of 77 and China (G-77), Like-minded Developing Countries (LMDC) and the BASIC bloc (Brazil, South Africa, India, China).

The Bonn meeting will take place from 8 to 18 June and is the mid-year session of two subsidiary bodies, implementation (SBI) and scientific and technological advice (SBSTA), which prepare draft decisions for the annual Conference of the Parties. This is the first multilateral climate conference since COP30 in Belém, Brazil, last November, and its mandate is to translate these outcomes into negotiable text ahead of CoP31. The summit will be held in November in Antalya, where Australia is the official chairman of the negotiations.

Mitigation Work Program

India, Article 3.5 of the Convention. He pressed for dialogue on unilateral trade measures (referring to carbon border taxes such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)) with a view to addressing the negative impact on developing countries’ climate actions, as set out in the article. He cautioned that the facilitative, non-prescriptive character of the Mitigation Work Program should be maintained, that the harmonization target should remain balanced and Party-focused, and that no obligations should be imposed beyond agreed powers.

India said this phase should be guided by equity and historical responsibility, arguing that developing countries need carbon space to eradicate poverty and expand energy access, while developed countries are leading accelerated emissions cuts, including negative emissions, where necessary. It aimed to operationalize the Just Transition Mechanism on the basis of equality and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR-RC).

This year’s agenda is dominated by the transition to the implementation phase. Key items include the Global Adaptation Goal, the Just Transition Work Program and the Global Stocktake, as well as climate finance and the controversial future of the Sharm el-Sheikh Mitigation Work Program (MWP), which is expected to culminate in a possible extension in 2026.