COP30 prez says India central to $1.3 tn climate finance plan

COP30 president announced three key roadmaps by November, focusing on $1.3T climate finance, fossil fuel transition, ending deforestation, with India at center

Updated on: Jun 27, 2026, 10:12:50 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok, New Delhi

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UN Climate Conference (COP30) president André Aranha Corrêa do Lago announced on Friday that three key implementation roadmaps will be released ahead of November, and said India was at the centre of global strategies to execute the $1.3 trillion climate finance blueprint, transition from fossil fuels, and end deforestation by 2030.

UN Climate Conference (COP30) president André Aranha Corrêa do Lago (AP)

Speaking at a London School of Economics (LSE) panel during London Climate Action Week 2026, Lago stated the upcoming documents focus entirely on implementation rather than negotiation before Brazil transfers the COP presidency to Turkey.

Lago noted that one document, written with the Independent High-Level Expert Group (IHLEG) on Climate Change, details how to implement the $1.3 trillion annual target recognized in Belém. “Most people think COP is negotiational, but this is a document of implementation. There are two other roadmaps, in which again, India is absolutely essential. One is on transitioning away from fossil fuels and the other one on ending deforestation by 2030,” he added.

The event coincided with the first meeting of the High-Level Empowered Board on Green Transition, launched at India’s Raisina Dialogue 2026. Chaired by economist NK Singh, who headed the 15th finance commission, the board handles emerging-market pathways and will define climate finance under the UNFCCC—the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change—via quarterly workshops running through March 2027.

Singh stated the climate debate has shifted from targets to delivery, driven tightly by the cost of capital. “The prejudices and predilections of many institutions, including credit rating agencies, often become a major handicap,” Singh said, highlighting system bottlenecks like power storage and grid transmission.

Singh was chairing a panel discussion with key members of the board.

Among them was Lord Nicholas Stern, the chair of LSE’s Grantham Research Institute, who stated the green transition represents the premier development story of the 21st century. “There is a paradox where as climate science becomes more worrying, political commentary has become more fragile,” Stern said, warning that risks to India remain unrecognised.

UK Special Representative Rachel Kyte stated private capital must match localised energy shifts, citing different experiences such as that of Pakistan, where domestic solar accounts for 25% of generation, and South Korea, where a pro-net zero government is battling rising gas prices to stress on strategies that take into account different pathways.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More

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