The climate security paradox: Navigating India’s policy commitments amid global climate governance gaps

Many countries, including India, promise ambitious climate goals. Yet global institutions and national incentives often make these promises hard to keep. This article examines the “Climate Security Paradox”, the gap where policy commitments and security outcomes diverge. It questions how India’s climate commitments interact with incentive structures, finance, and equity within global climate governance and finds three interlinked barriers. First, short-term growth incentives often favor continued coal use and infrastructure choices that keep emissions high. Second, climate finance remains uncertain and slow, which delays state-level adaptation projects and local resilience investments. Third, resource allocation often sidelines vulnerable groups, reducing trust and disengages from climate programs. By introducing an analytical triad, “incentives, finance, equity”, and presenting the trade-offs between sovereignty, development, and global cooperation—a clear, practical framework is created for analyzing climate-policy failure in developing countries. Reshaping national incentives, securing predictable finance, and embedding fairness are each necessary to narrow the paradox and specific policy steps are suggested: phased responsibilities, stable finance mechanisms, and stronger local institutions. It also calls for predictable loss-and-damage funds and targeted investments to protect local livelihoods in climate hotspots urgently. These measures can help India and similar countries align commitments with measurable climate security outcomes.