COP31 Adopts a Climate Finance Work Programme: What Was Agreed and What Was Dropped
The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened in Antalya, Turkey, on 9 November 2026.
At the opening session, countries adopted a separate (standalone) agenda item called the Climate Finance Work Programme. Developing countries, including India, had demanded it.
The programme gives a fixed space to discuss Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, which says rich (developed) countries must provide money to poorer (developing) countries for climate action. It comes from the "Global Mutirão" decision of COP30 in Brazil, which set up a two-year work programme on climate finance.
The European Union (EU) objected, saying COP30 had not created a standalone item and the programme should end within two years. India said COP30 had agreed to a standalone item.
Two proposals pushed mainly by the African Group were dropped from the agenda: a separate item on tripling adaptation finance (money to help countries cope with climate impacts) and a dialogue on climate-related trade measures such as the EU's carbon border charge. Funding for the Green Climate Fund will be discussed under an existing item, and the seventh review of the financial mechanism was pushed to COP32.
India said its priorities are predictable climate finance, technology transfer and a just transition, and that it regretted the exclusion of the adaptation-finance proposal. It will work with the G77 and China, the Like-Minded Developing Countries group and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China).
New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance
The New Collective Quantified Goal, or NCQG, is the global target for how much climate money must flow to developing countries every year. It was agreed at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, and it replaced the old target of USD 100 billion a year. Think of it as the "salary promise" of the climate talks: it says how much, by when and who leads. The debate at every COP since then is about whether this promise is enough, and what kind of money counts.
The Climate Finance Work Programme adopted at COP31 is where countries will now argue over the quality and predictability of the money behind the NCQG. Developing countries see it as a forum to hold rich countries to their Article 9.1 duty to provide finance, while the EU wants it to stay short and tied to the existing NCQG.
Adaptation Finance Under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement
Adaptation finance is money spent to help people, farms, cities and nature cope with climate change effects that are already happening or can no longer be avoided. It pays for things like heat-tolerant seeds, early warning systems, stronger embankments and heat action plans. Unlike solar or wind projects, most adaptation projects earn no profit, so private investors rarely fund them. That is why developing countries depend on public money from richer countries.
The African Group wanted a separate COP31 agenda item on tripling adaptation finance, but it was dropped. With flows of about USD 30 billion against needs of about USD 305 billion, India and other developing countries regretted this, since adaptation is the area where public money matters most.
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): The EU's Carbon Charge on Imports
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM, is a European Union rule that puts a charge on the carbon pollution released while making certain goods abroad, when those goods are imported into the EU. In simple words, it is a carbon price at the border. The EU says it stops "carbon leakage", which means factories moving to countries with weaker climate rules. Many developing countries see it as a trade barrier dressed up as climate policy.
The African Group's proposal for a dialogue on climate-related trade measures was dropped from the COP31 agenda. Concerns about measures like CBAM will instead go to the existing trade-and-climate dialogue, with submissions invited before the next session in Bonn.
- COP31: Antalya, Turkey; opening plenary on 9 November 2026; COP32 will take up the deferred seventh review of the financial mechanism
- New standalone agenda item: Climate Finance Work Programme (focus on Paris Agreement Article 9.1)
- Origin: COP30 "Global Mutirão" decision (Brazil, 2025) set a two-year work programme on climate finance
- NCQG (COP29, Baku, 2024): at least USD 300 billion a year by 2035 led by developed countries; USD 1.3 trillion a year by 2035 from all sources
- Adaptation finance in 2024: USD 28.2 to 31.7 billion; adaptation need: about USD 305 billion a year by 2035 (UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2026)
- Dropped from the agenda: tripling adaptation finance; dialogue on climate-related trade measures
- India's negotiating groups: G77 and China, Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC), BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China)
- EU CBAM definitive phase since 1 January 2026; covers iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen, electricity