Bengaluru: India came down heavily on the existing goal on climate finance – the “New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)” as it is known – calling it “sub-optimal” and a “deflection” of the responsibilities of developed countries in mobilising and ensuring climate finance to developing countries. India was delivering a statement on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries (a group of around 24 developing countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America) on Saturday (November 15), the sixth day of the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) that is currently underway at Belem, Brazil. The current NCQG specifies that developed countries must provide at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 to fund climate action in developing countries. However, developing countries including India have repeatedly expressed concerns that this amount just does not cut it.Concerns regarding climate finance Speaking on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries on November 15 at COP30, India highlighted several concerns of developing countries regarding existing climate finance (funding that is used to implement adaptation and mitigation measures to counter climate change such as the development and implementation of early warning systems or afforestation to increase carbon sequestration).Access to climate finance at scale is “the critical enabler of climate action”, India said. It added that without sufficient new and additional financial resources from developed countries, developing countries cannot achieve the level of mitigation and adaptation necessary to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (which are voluntary actions such as reducing carbon emission intensities promised by countries to cut down on greenhouse gases to tackle global warming, and in turn, climate change). Under the Paris Agreement, climate finance is “a legal obligation” of developed countries, and “not a voluntary act”; the Agreement, through Article 9.3, also expects developed countries to lead in mobilisation, India reminded the gathering.Grants and concessional resources under Article 9.1 can lower the cost of capital; innovative financial instruments such as blended finance could also play a major role in mobilising resources under the Article 9.3, India noted. “Transparency, predictability and reliability of the financial flows are central to all climate action,” India said.However, one concern is the absence of a multilaterally-agreed definition of climate finance, India said. Another is the deficiency in reporting on mobilised funds by developed countries, India added.Though developed countries are required to communicate – every two years – the amount of funds that they have mobilised, under Article 9, paragraph 5, of the Paris Agreement, this is not happening. “The recent synthesis report on the biennial communication under Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement indicates that at least a third of countries submitted information only up to 2025,” India noted. This is “outdated information” and does not “translate into predictability”, India said.Some developed countries have even reported a decrease in financial support compared to the previous years, with reductions ranging from 51 to 75% and 76 to 100% respectively, India remarked. “There is 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 in their reports.” Developing countries need “multi-year quantified projections” and predictability in financial flows – this is “critical” for progress on the Paris Agreement, India said. A ‘deflection of responsibilities’Before India’s turn, many speakers at the high ministerial dialogue on climate finance spoke about the NCQG. For instance, Germany, speaking first at the high-ministerial dialogue, said that the country would continue to provide its fair share of finance and that other countries too could contribute to this voluntarily, as this has been specified in the NCQG. Though the NCQG was “overwhelmingly invoked in the room”, it is currently “a suboptimal decision with no clear commitment from the developed countries, making it impossible to meet the NDCs set by the developing countries”, Suman Chandra, director of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy who gave the statement, said.The NCQG specifically refers to Article 9.3, but the legal mandate – which is listed under Article 9.1 – goes “completely unaddressed”, India remarked. “The decision, we all know, is inadequate, incomplete, and no discussion on 9.1, and no plan to address quantitative elements other than to call on to do so. At best it is [a] deflection of the responsibilities of the developed countries,” India said.India also noted, like many countries including China that delivered statements before it, that there has to be a balance between mitigation and adaptation finance.Climate finance, a thorny issueArticle 9 of the Paris Agreement deals with climate finance. It states that developed countries shall provide financial resources to assist developing countries for both climate mitigation and adaptation measures. Other countries can provide such support voluntarily. Paragraph 3 (referred to as Article 9.3) specifies that developed countries should continue to take the lead in mobilising climate finance. These can be from several sources: through public funds,by supporting country-driven strategies, and so on. These efforts also have to increase over time, Article 9.3 adds.First mooted at COP28 in 2023 at Dubai, UAE, the New Collective Quantified Goal aimed to address this issue of climate finance. COP29 at Baku, Azerbaijan, set a goal of developed countries providing at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 to fund climate action in developing countries. However, developing countries including India have expressed concerns about the NCQG. In its recent submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, for instance, India expressed concerns about “the substantial gaps” in the current annual quantum provided under NCQG and the financing needs currently identified by developing countries for their 2030 NDC commitments.“Without sufficient climate finance, even the proposed NDCs would not fructify, leave alone any enhanced level of ambition in future NDCs,” India had noted. “The NCQG outcome of COP 29 was adopted despite India’s objection and signals the unwillingness and failure of developed countries to fulfil their responsibilities under the Convention and its Paris Agreement.”