Climate Adaptation and Resilience: Pathways for India’s NDCs (2031–35)

Context: India is mainstreaming adaptation into its development strategy through updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and localised resilience models.

Current State of Climate Vulnerability in India

• India is the ninth most climate-vulnerable nation globally.
• Between 1995 and 2024, India recorded 430 extreme weather events, resulting in economic losses of $170 billion and affecting 1.3 billion people.

Institutional Models for Climate Resilience

• NICRA (National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture): An ICAR initiative covering 448 villages across 151 hotspots, focusing on climate-smart agriculture and risk mapping.
• Tamil Nadu’s Climate Resilient Villages (CRV): Recognised by the Economic Survey 2025-26 as a “best practice.” It utilises a holistic approach in 11 districts, integrating water management, renewable energy, and alternative livelihoods.

Challenges in Adaptation Financing

• Budgetary Skew: While adaptation spending was estimated at 6% of GDP in FY22, the Union Budget 2026–27 remains heavily focused on emission mitigation.
• Taxonomy Gaps: The Draft Framework of Climate Finance Taxonomy (2025) is currently mitigation-centric, lacking a clear typology to prioritise and fund vulnerable sectors.
• Global Finance Gap: Developing nations face an annual financing gap of $284–$339 billion through 2035, according to the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2025.

Strategies for Strengthening Adaptive Capacity

• Climate Budgeting: The Ministry of Finance should mandate climate budgeting through State Finance Departments, integrating adaptation targets into annual budgetary planning.
• Quantifying Benefits: Highlighting the ten-fold return on investment in adaptation (as per WRI) can help attract private and international capital.
• National Adaptation Plan (NAP): Operationalising NDCs through updated State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) that include regular vulnerability assessments at the block level.
• Whole-of-Systems Approach: Moving beyond infrastructure to include skill development, rehabilitation guidelines for climate-displaced populations, and dedicated workforces in climate change cells.
• Locally Led Adaptation (LLA): A core theme of COP30, stressing that resilience planning must transition from national mandates to Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies.

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