Sherry for prioritising climate finance, capacity for Pakistan
Abdullah Jan
Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party leader Senator Sherry Rehman has called for the prioritisation of capacity and finance in climate governance.
Speaking at a roundtable event titled ‘Financing Climate Action for Pakistan,’ organised by the Jinnah Institute, Senator Rehman emphasised the importance of focusing on finance and scalable capacity, especially as Pakistan prepares for COP28. She stressed that the escalating environmental, climate, and pollution challenges in Pakistan require clear priorities for the government, civil society, and development partners.
During the event, she also launched the Centigrade Platform, aimed at fostering policy discussions, knowledge-based collaborations, and advocacy for resilience in Pakistan’s climate and environment sectors. She explained that Centigrade seeks to establish science-based climate leadership and communication strategies to address the growing emergencies faced by communities, as well as to build capacity for both sectoral and national crises.
UN Resident Coordinator Julien Harneis noted the importance of evaluating Pakistan’s receipt of climate funds in comparison to other vulnerable countries and investigating any discrepancies in terms of absorptive capacity.
He also highlighted the need for greater consideration of the environmental damage caused by large infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
Samuel Rizk, Resident Representative of UNDP Pakistan, pointed out that climate finance opportunities for lower-middle-income countries like Pakistan are limited. He suggested that a combination of finance and investment might offer a more viable solution, but challenges related to the regulatory environment, human capital deficits, and technical capacity need to be addressed for progress to occur.
Abdullah Fadil, a Country Representative of Unicef, expressed concern about the current distribution of climate finance, which often favours hard infrastructure over investments in the resilience of vulnerable communities.
He stressed the need to prioritise development and inclusion, citing data from Unicef’s Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey, which shows a high prevalence of nutritional stunting among Pakistani children.
Dr. Abid Suleri, Executive Director of SDPI, highlighted the challenges faced by vulnerable countries like Pakistan in accessing international climate finance. He suggested exploring options like Debt for Nature Swaps as alternatives for climate finance and criticised the dependency on IMF clearance for crisis adaptation funds.
Climate finance specialist Kashmala Kakakhel argued against Pakistan positioning itself solely as a recipient of climate finance. She advocated for considering carbon trading, where Pakistan has competitive dollar-to-GHG ratios, as a potential source of climate financing.
Hadika Jamshed, a carbon finance specialist, supported this idea and noted the absence of a rulebook for carbon financing by the UNFCCC, which presents an opportunity for countries like Pakistan.
Senior economist Ijaz Nabi called for enhanced collaboration between academia and federal and provincial ministries in climate action. He stressed the importance of improving governance before seeking climate finance, as delivery capacity deficits are evident.
Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, a senior climate expert, concurred with the need for improved project assessments by governmental authorities, which should provide more convincing projections for adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Ambassador Shafqat Kakakhel provided insights into the history of climate policy frameworks and lamented the lack of organised implementation and meaningful outcomes.
Other notable participants in the event included Australian High Commissioner H.E. Neil Hawkins, World Bank Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist Ahsan Tehsin, UN Assistant Resident Representative Amir Khan Goraya, Australian First Secretary Danielle Cashen, and Head of Social and Environmental Policy at Habib Bank Ahmed Saeed.
