Transport in Climate Action: TERI Roundtable Charts India’s Path to COP30
New Delhi, September 29, 2025: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) convened a high-level roundtable on ‘Transport in Climate Action: National Priorities and Global Expectations for COP30’, on September 26, 2025, bringing together policymakers, experts, industry leaders, and financial stakeholders to deliberate on pathways for decarbonising the transport sector in India and across developing economies.
Discussions focus on finance, technology, and CBDR to shape sustainable mobility strategies for India and developing nations
The discussions focused on how equity, ambition, and finance can be better integrated into transport strategies, with particular emphasis on the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC). Deliberations also highlighted India’s recent policy and technological advances (electric mobility, improvements in fuel efficiency and emission standards, biofuels, green hydrogen, and dedicated freight corridors) —while stressing the need for credible data systems and institutional readiness and lessons from global experiences.
Opening the session, Mr Sanjay Seth, Senior Director, TERI, underlined the urgency of action, saying, “We are very close to COP 30 and are at a position of both urgency and opportunity. Globally Transport accounts for 1/4th of CO2 emissions and its one of the fastest growing energy related sector. As we move towards COP 30 in Belem, our key question that we need to ask and answer is how we can align transport sector with goals of limiting emissions and warming, expanding resilience and ensuring equity.”
Shri Mahmood Ahmed, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), outlined India’s priorities, re-affirming, “The gauntlet has been picked up, and we all know of our commitments and the leadership is clear about its priorities. As India strives for Viksit Bharat by 2047 and net zero by 2070, we must ensure development remains sustainable, globally aligned, and inclusive of all stakeholders.” He further noted that MoRTH has progressively strengthened Bharat Stage emission norms, leapfrogging from BS IV to BS VI and is now working with industry and academia on BS VII standards, alongside advancing methanol blending and CNG expansion.
Providing a global perspective, Mr Dan Ioschpe, COP30 Climate Champion, observed, “We believe that climate action is needed, is possible, profitable, popular and that is India’s moment to shape its own transition. Let’s work together with the broader Indian non-state actor community, accelerating progress in areas that deliver against the mandate of the Global Stocktake through a shared Action Agenda.”
Country representatives from Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Kiribati, and the Republic of Guinea participated in the session and shared their experiences on how the transport sector is a key pillar for achieving their respective NDC goals.
Moderated by Ms Jaya Varma Sinha, former Chairperson & CEO, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, the deliberations were structured around the twin anchors of policy–technology readiness and financing & equity. Participants explored how transport can be more effectively embedded in climate planning through linkages with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and improved inter-ministerial coordination.
The discussions were set against the backdrop of global climate negotiations and an urgent ambition gap. Since the adoption of the UNFCCC in 1992 and the Paris Agreement in 2015, CBDR has remained central to balancing equity with ambition. Yet, even with full and conditional implementation of current NDCs, according to the NDC Synthesis report of UNFCCC (2024), global emissions in 2030 are projected at ~51.6 Gt CO₂e, consuming nearly 87 percent of the 1.5 °C carbon budget and leaving a significant finance and ambition gap. TERI’s analysis shows that 72 out of 158 countries have included transport-specific targets in their NDCs, many conditional on finance, technology transfer, and capacity building.
For India, transport is pivotal to its net-zero target by 2070, with road transport contributing more than 90% of sectoral emissions, mostly in urban areas. While significant progress has been made through EV adoption, ethanol blending, and expansion of dedicated freight corridors, challenges remain in freight decarbonisation, demand management, and monitoring frameworks. TERI’s transport modelling shows that while ambitious policy action can cut transport emissions by about 30 percent by 2050 versus baseline, unchecked growth in freight demand and gaps in data and institutional coordination could offset these gains—underscoring the need for comprehensive integration of transport into national and state climate plans.
Finance emerged as a decisive factor. At COP29, Parties adopted a new collective quantified goal of USD 300 billion annually by 2035, but India and other developing nations have called for USD 1.3 trillion annually in concessional finance by 2030 to enable a just transition. Mobilising resources through multilateral development banks (MDBs), public–private partnerships (PPPs), and carbon markets will be critical to advancing equitable transport decarbonisation.
Concluding the roundtable, Mr Sharif Qamar, Associate Director, TERI, thanked all participants and noted that the key insights will be collated and shared with key ministries and other stakeholders to inform future NDC and COP 30 deliberations.
The roundtable reaffirmed that transport is both a domestic priority and a strategic issue in global climate negotiations. As COP30 approaches, aligning equity, technology, and finance will be critical to advancing low-carbon mobility for India and the world.