New Delhi, Nov. 4 -- Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday outlined India's priorities for the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP31) in Turkiye's Antalya from November 9-20, saying that India will approach COP31 with a solution-oriented vision, bringing forth practical solutions for the Global South, with capacity building, knowledge sharing and geography-specific solutions to be at the core of the discussions. Briefing the media, Yadav said predictable climate finance will be a key priority, alongside party-driven mitigation, technology transfer and discussions on the just transition. At COP31, Yadav said India is seeking a decision to commence the Climate Finance Work Programme - under which developed countries have to meet obligations to provide financial resources to developing nations for mitigation and adaptation. "Climate finance is an obligation of developed countries under Article 9.1 and must be predictable, largely public and concessional and should not add to the debt burden. India will also press for mitigation and the Global Stocktake to remain party-driven, facilitative and non-punitive, respecting the nationally determined nature of NDCs and ruling out new top-down targets," Yadav said. The minister is expected to travel to Antalya on November 15. He said climate adaptation too remains a priority for India, stating the agenda should remain separate from negotiations and that uniform global targets must respect national circumstances. On the prevailing impacts of El Nino, at a time when the West Asia crisis was still ongoing, Yadav said the impacts were for all countries to see. "There are IPCC reports from time to time, and interventions also come in. We say that science is informing us and telling us more and more about these challenges. Technology is assisting us, but access to it should be available to everyone in the world. Nobody around the world can deny the challenges posed by climate change," Yadav said. "Secondly, barriers relating to cost, intellectual property rights and trade must be removed because as long as we continue to create barriers to technology, smaller countries, particularly those that should benefit from such technology, will not receive those benefits," he added, stating this is why India continues to oppose European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). "We also believe that participation in carbon markets should be voluntary. On CBAM, we will stand by our position. When it comes to protecting India's interests, that is what we speak about most strongly," he added....