Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday urged the international community to honor its commitment on climate finance, stressing that debt-driven finance cannot address the climate change-induced devastation in vulnerable nations such as Pakistan.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), record monsoon rains and resulting floods have killed over 1,000 people across Pakistan, and injured around 1,100 more, while also devastating crops, endangering the country’s food security. This year’s floods came just three years after the floods of 2022, which submerged a third of the country, inflicting economic losses of $30 billion. At the time, the global community had pledged $10 billion to support the country’s rehabilitation efforts, most of which was in the form of loans.
“Loans over loans, adding to loans is not a solution,” said Sharif at a Special Climate Event convened by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres to enable member states to present new Nationally Determined Contributions with targets for the year 2035. Stressing Pakistan’s commitment to be part of the solution to the climate crisis, the premier hoped the international community would also honor its commitment for the sake of the country’s future generations.
He reminded delegates that Pakistan was still reeling from the scars of the 2022 floods, which had displaced millions. “This year, intense monsoon rains, cloudbursts, flash floods and devastating urban flooding have impacted more than five million people, destroyed 4,100 villages, and claimed over 1,000 precious lives,” he said, noting this was in spite of Pakistan’s minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. “We bear impacts far beyond our share,” he said.
“In our 2021 Nationally Determined Contribution, Pakistan committed to an unconditional 15% reduction in projected greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” he said, adding the country had already delivered on this. “Renewables are presently providing over 32% of Pakistan’s power mix. Solar energy has grown sevenfold since 2021,” he said, noting 23,000 hectares of mangrove forests had been restored.
However, he regretted, the implementation of Pakistan’s national adaptation plan was “hampered, and hampered severely, due to inadequate international climate finance.” He said the country aimed to increase the share of renewables and hydropower to 62% of the country’s energy mix by 2035, while by 2030 it would expand nuclear energy capacity by 1,200MW, shift 30% of transport to cleaner mobility and establish 3,000 charging stations nationwide. He also announced the scaling up of climate-smart agriculture, safeguarding of water security, and advancement of the plantation of one billion trees.
Hope persists
Earlier, U.N. Secretary General Guterres said it was still possible to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees by century’s end. He said clean energy was powering jobs, growth and sustainable development, besides generating the fastest and cheapest electricity and insulating economies from volatile fossil fuel markets. “The bottom line: clean is competitive, and climate action is imperative,” he said.
Guterres said the Paris Agreement had made a difference, emphasizing the need to make plans for 2035 and beyond. “COP30 in Brazil must conclude with a credible global response plan to get us on track and show a credible path to mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035, as agreed at COP29 in Baku,” he said, stressing on identifying funding sources, making finance accessible, and ensuring accountability.
He also underlined that “developing countries that did least to cause the crisis are suffering most,” calling for “effective debt relief and scaled-up solutions like debt swaps and disaster pause clauses.”