Arooj Zulfiqar

Pakistan is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations needing large sums of money to finance its climate action, including mitigation and adaptation, particularly adaptation which is transformative rather than incremental. Muhammad Arif Goheer, Principal Scientific Officer Pak-NDC Secretariat Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), said this while talking to WealthPK. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates Pakistan’s annual financing gap for the SDGs at $3.72 billion for 2020-2030, and the NDC estimates that $7 billion to $14 billion must be raised for climate adaptation. The public sector requires more fiscal space, and there is potential for more from the private sector. “One of the biggest environmental issues facing the modern world is climate change. In spite of the fact that Pakistan contributes less than 1% to the global greenhouse gas emissions, it falls among those nations which are the worst victims of climate change.

However, in its battle against this phenomenon, access to climate finance is the most formidable challenge the country has been facing,” he said. “Climate finance plays a pivotal role in supporting initiatives, projects, and policies that strive to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience, and promote environment-friendly practices.Without adequate funding, the country finds it challenging to implement crucial initiatives to mitigate climate change's escalating impacts on its communities and ecosystems. “Collaboration among the developed and developing countries can foster partnerships and facilitate a smoother flow of climate finance to Pakistan. By combining resources and expertise, nations can work together to implement projects more efficiently.Mobilising large scale private finance is critical to delivering Pakistan’s ambitious climate commitments,” Goheer added.

Speaking recently at theClimate Finance Accelerator (CFA) program, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said climate finance was an uncharted territory for many developing countries due to significant knowledge and capacity gap on this critical issue. She said Pakistan's contribution to the global warming was less than one percent, but itfacedhuge weather-related losses and damages, so it's a climate-stressed country. According to Rehman, Pakistan's progress in achieving crucial climate adaptation and mitigation goals is hampered by both limited access to climate finance and a lack of technical capacity. "We need the promises made at COP27 to be fulfilled, but it's clear that the financial challenges the international public sector faces in meeting the massive funding requirements of the developing world, which have gone from billions to trillions, fall far short of the quantum of funding now needed," she said.

Credit: INP-WealthPk