Annual $300 billion by 2035 insufficient for global south, India needs $10 trn by 2070 to achieve net-zero target: Bhupender Yadav

NEW DELHI: Setting the tone for the upcoming climate conference ( COP30 ) in Belem, Brazil, where the issue of climate finance will dominate the discourse, India on Thursday said financial support of $300 billion annually to the global south by 2035 is “insufficient” and stressed that developed countries have the “moral responsibility” to support developing countries for the greater good of planet Earth.

India’s concerns over the global north’s low ambitions on climate finance were articulated by Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav at an event organised by industry chamber Ficci, where he quoted UNEP’s executive director Inger Andersen as saying that finance is a “make-or-break” issue for climate action.

“Without it, the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement will be mere pipe dreams,” said Yadav. His remarks assume significance, especially as developing countries are gearing up to fight for more predictable climate finance for the global south when they assemble in Brazil for COP30 in Nov.

At last year’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, developed countries had agreed to mobilise merely $300 billion annually by 2035, far short of the $1.3-trillion target set by developing countries for implementation of their climate action pledges.

Yadav, in his speech, said India will require more than $10 trillion by 2070 to meet its net-zero target and called for global financial systems to unlock private capital, noting that public money cannot and would not be sufficient to address the scale of the problem at hand.

Referring to the RBI’s estimates in 2023, he said India will spend about $1.05 trillion by 2030 to adapt industries to climate norms.

Calling ‘ green finance ’ the backbone of resilient and competitive economies, he said, “Green financing is not simply about mobilising money for environmental projects. It is about restructuring the flow of capital so that every investment in infrastructure, industry, transport, or agriculture contributes to sustainability rather than undermining it.”