Every year, for the last several years, has been deemed as the hottest year on record. 2025 has already surpassed previous numbers with January seeing temperatures of 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels. The trend is likely to continue. Rising heat is not the only manifestation of climate change, there have been more than usual forest fires, heavier monsoons and snowstorms, and more frequent cyclones. The rapid growth and scale of climate impacts, expected to increase exponentially according to IPCC reports, tells us plainly that no one is immune—not even the richer countries. Climate events in January 2025 alone have affected every single part of the planet, from massive storms in the UK to heavy rain and floods in Western Australia to record heat in Asia, South America and the Arctic.
The climate conversation now needs some serious reflecting and contemplation. COP29 in Baku was a failure, with lower-than-expected financial pledges from developed economies and lack of strengthening of previous commitments to move away from fossil fuels. There seems to be a sense of lethargy on part of the global community to adequately address these issues. In some ways, the collapse of global climate ambition offers the ability to re-think our priorities and goals and strategise as a global community in a more inclusive manner.
For too long, climate conversations have largely been centred around long term mitigation strategies, often with little knowledge and understanding of myriad contextual realities—such as the focus on reduction of GHG emissions to stem the tide of the rising temperature through more renewables. Further, while the demand from developing countries in terms of financing, technology transfer, and addressing their historical injustices by the global majority continues to be necessary, we must also recognise that in the longer run new forms of climate cooperation and collective resilience based on context specific co-learning and co-action is needed. Industrial and post industrialised countries might be responsible for a majority of past emissions, but we cannot ignore the emissions of developing nations. Rightfully, many island nations and less developed economies are demanding action from both post industrialised richer economies and developing nations.
Within the subgroups, fast growing middle economies like India, Germany, Brazil could push for climate action that is equitable, balanced and homegrown. We need to move away from the donor organised one-size fits all mindset to a more bottom-up inclusive approach. The approach to tackling food security, for example cannot be the same globally. Greater collaboration between willing partners, especially across global south countries, is necessary to elevate on the one hand contextual realities, but also traditional knowledge and information. In countries that are still largely dependent on agriculture as the main source of development, partnerships can be a mix of innovative financing that don’t perpetuate cycles of debt, learning from best practices, technology transfer, research and other tools.
The focus on short-term economic development and aid distribution has often meant that very little attention has gone into what long term community resilience can look like. With the shutting down of USAID and the reduction in aid budgets in other countries such as the UK, international development aid and global financing has drastically changed. The shortfall felt during the first Trump administration was to a certain extent offset by other donors, but many of those commitments have been unrealised. The global south can either wait for the global governance systems to be realigned by a select few players or play a greater role in ensuring that any new system balances national priorities with focus and accountability to those more vulnerable.
Alliances on innovation, research, data collection becomes an integral aspect of effective adaptation. There is an opportunity for affected countries to bring their collective understanding for more effective climate action, where the private sector has a key role to play. India and Australia for example are collaborating on salt resistant rice production, using traditional knowledge and technology which can be expanded to relevant partners in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
India and Mexico have established a stream of research on water, amongst other aspects, where knowledge on localised water practices and traditional water management can be shared. Such partnerships should consider relooking at climate trends to explore new pathways for long term action, rather than only derisking. India’s domestic policies and projects might offer insights for other countries. During its G20 presidency, India launched a new framework for women-led urban development which can be adapted as needed by other global fast growing mega-cities that identify with specific challenges. We can either decry the end to international climate action or view this as an evolution and meaningfully shape a future that is inclusive and balanced.
The author is Co-Founder and Director of Kubernein Initiative and currently a DFAT Maitri Principal Research Fellow at La Trobe Asia, Australia. Views are personal.
