Climate multilateralism in South Asia

The challenges we have faced in the past in forging regional institutions should not dissuade us.

With the conclusion of COP30 in Brazil, the message emerging from global negotiations is unmistakable: The world has now slipped past the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, and the window for meaningful action is rapidly narrowing. Despite urgent warnings from the UN Secretary-General and decades of promises, the global north continues to fall short on its commitments to finance, equity and climate justice even 30 years after the Earth Summit first set a collective direction in this very country. The Paris Agreement is struggling to deliver ambition at the scale and pace required; therefore, calls for a renewed, reimagined form of climate multilateralism shaped by the priorities, realities and leadership of the global south have become louder and more compelling than ever.