Faiza Tehseen

Pakistan needs a robust bankable sectoral strategy to tap into the global climate finance effectively. By doing so, the country’s climate resilience efforts will align with international funding opportunities and financial institutions, said Muhammad Saleem, spokesperson for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC&EC) in an exclusive interview with WealthPK.

“Enlisted among the top 10 most vulnerable countries to climate impacts, Pakistan is yet to weave sector-specific funding strategies, which is hampering the flow of international climate finance. To accommodate any country for financing, funding, or donation, all the international agencies need well-defined actionable projects showing clear outcomes,” he said.

Under the Paris agreement, he said, Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) underpin reduction in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but technical capacity and institutional flaws are hindering the translation of the said aims into result-oriented projects. Saleem said, “Sector-specific approaches are direly needed to implement the climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.

These approaches are also vital to ensure private sector engagement, active role of government institutions, and economic viability. For this purpose, different key sectors directly addressing the climatic impacts must be focused. These sectors include urban planning, water resources, energy, and agriculture. With proper policy incentives and risk-sharing mechanism, renewable energy projects can attract green finance.”

He said establishment of a centralized climate finance unit in the relevant government institutions was crucial to build institutional capacity and foster public private partnerships. It will help streamline the financing process and engagements with the international donors. He said, “As the international climate finance pool is growing, Pakistan can secure its position as a credible place by demonstrating accountability and transparency in fund utilization. An effective climate action is not only necessary to combat its impacts but also an economic opportunity for the country”.

To fulfil this task, the possible supporting financial bodies may include the domestic financial systems, international climate finance agencies, and private sector. Investment is needed to launch green technology-related ventures in Pakistan. The linking of relevant Pakistani stakeholders and innovators with their global counterparts is necessary to leverage climate finance for the green innovative projects and green jobs creation. Scaling up bankable climate smart technologies will also help build a green economic future, Saleem added. 

Muhammad Saleh Mangrio, Executive Director of Centre for Rural Change, Sindh, discussed with WealthPK the importance of bankable sectoral strategies to attract climate finance and interested investors in Pakistan He said, “Pakistan is struggling hard to secure financial support from many international sources – carbon markets, climate insurance, and green alliances. Several grants, concessional loans, and technical aids, including loss and damage funds, remain as initiatives with zero impact. The main cause is lack of technical presentation at the international level.”

He said overcoming the said issue was crucial to get climate finance. Otherwise, it would be difficult to strategically cope with the climate change impacts. Pakistan needs to introduce a superb accountability and transparency system, showing the proper use of funding and end results. He said, “Opportunities of bankable climate finance market will not only attract the international financial institutions but also encourage the private investors related to carbon markets at both national and international levels. So, the policymakers must focus on this approach seriously.”

Credit: INP-WealthPk