South Asia gains lifeline from COP30

The agreement from the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, carries significant importance for South Asian countries, analysts said.

This is because the pact promises increased access to the resources necessary to manage climate risks and accelerate mitigation and adaptation efforts, they noted.

The COP30 concluded in Belem, Brazil, on Nov 22 after running overtime, with an agreement calling for a tripling of funding for developing nations to protect their people from the growing impacts of the climate crisis, and for stepping up support for workers and communities in the transition to clean energy.

Anjal Prakash, a clinical associate professor and research director with the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business, said: "Tripling climate finance means more support for disaster-resilient infrastructure, agricultural adaptation, and social assistance programs in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and neighboring countries — regions severely affected by heat waves, flooding, and sea-level rise."

The agreement also strengthens South Asia's negotiating leverage, allowing various countries to advocate climate justice, an equitable carbon space, and meaningful forest and ecosystem finance through the newly proposed global mechanisms, he added.

William Yu, founder and CEO of the World Green Organisation, said the new agreement is welcomed by developing nations, which need to step up efforts toward climate adaptation, as South Asia faces rising climate-related disaster risks and potential losses amounting to "billions of US dollars".

So the world is heading in the right direction at the COP30 with the agreement, and, with the financing, "we should start to look into how to build resilience through infrastructure to stand all possible impact from climate change, be it flooding, sea level rise, or the super typhoon", Yu added.

The statement also said that there is a need for greater global support for vulnerable populations, a large majority of whom are in the Global South, so that they can protect themselves from the escalating impacts of climate change.

During the COP30, Pakistan also called for urgent grant-based climate finance.

"The scale and frequency of such disasters in developing countries underscore the disproportionate climate burden placed on nations that played almost no role in heating the planet," Pakistan's Climate Change Secretary Aisha Humera Moriani said.

Vulnerable to climate

South Asia ranks as one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change due to factors such as its population density, increasing temperatures and exposed geography, the World Bank said in a report titled "From Risk to Resilience: Helping People and Firms Adapt in South Asia", which drew from case studies from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The study released by the World Bank said South Asia will confront risks from rising heat, floods, and salinity. By 2030, 1.8 billion people, or 89 percent of the population, are expected to experience extreme heat, while 462 million people are at risk of severe flooding.

However, South Asia faces tight fiscal constraints due to economic crises, political transitions, and limited adaptation finance, Prakash said.

Yu added that the region faces continuous challenges from deforestation and a lack of funding for the transition to renewable energy.