Envoy to represent India at COP30 Leaders’ Summit; Environment Minister Yadav to join later

India will be represented by its ambassador to Brazil at the COP30 Leaders’ Summit in Belém on November 6 and 7, while Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will lead the country’s delegation during the second week of the UN climate conference.

Mr. Yadav skipped COP29 in Baku where India strongly opposed the $300 billion climate finance goal as inadequate.

Sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to skip COP30, which will be held from November 10-21.

More than 140 delegations, including 57 heads of state and 39 ministers are expected to attend the leaders’ summit hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The two-day event will set the political direction for COP30, which marks a decade since the Paris Agreement and will focus on forests, renewable energy, adaptation, food security and climate finance.

At COP30, India is expected to underline that developed countries can restore trust by honouring their past commitments and scaling up predictable, grant-based funding for adaptation and loss and damage, sources said.

At last month’s pre-COP meeting in Brasília, Mr. Yadav said COP30 must be the “COP of Adaptation” and that the focus should shift from dialogue to tangible action on the ground.

“Dialogue is important, but action is imperative. We must now focus on implementing ambitious climate measures and, above all, addressing the most pressing challenge: the urgent lack of resources for developing countries to deliver adaptation and mitigation,” he said.

India has said that strengthening public finance for adaptation could encourage additional support from other sources and that new processes should not be introduced that risk weakening the Paris Agreement’s framework.

For India and the wider Global South, COP30 will be a test of whether the climate conferences can finally move beyond slow negotiations to deliver affordable, accessible funds.

The UN’s “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3 Trillion”, released on Wednesday, lays out a plan to mobilise at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for developing countries through cheaper loans, guarantees and debt-relief instruments.

Brazil will also use the leaders’ summit to launch the “Tropical Forest Forever Facility”, which aims to mobilise $125 billion for forest protection through results-based payments over the next decade.

The initiative, together with the UN roadmap, is expected to dominate the finance discussions in Belem.

The Indian delegation is expected to highlight the country’s contributions through initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Big Cat Alliance as examples of cooperative and action-oriented multilateralism.

COP30 is taking place against a complex geopolitical backdrop, with the United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and several developed countries reassessing their climate strategies amid economic and energy security concerns.