IAEA chief lauds Pakistan for pursuing clean energy goals

Islamabad : Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi called on Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam in Glasgow city, the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom.

Both sides discussed various areas of cooperation for the promotion of nuclear energy as clean energy in Pakistan, according to press release issued here on Tuesday from the climate change ministry.

The meeting was held at the Pakistan Pavilion on the sidelines of the two-week UN climate summit that began on Sunday, 2021.

Malik Amin Aslam is in Glasgow and is leading Pakistan’s delegation at the crucial U.N. climate summit amid intense diplomatic negotiations over the next two weeks by almost 200 countries reaching a consensus over approaches to slow intensifying global warming and adapting to the climate damage already underway.

During the meeting, the PM’s aide underscored that nuclear power, as a zero-carbon source of energy, had an indispensable role to play in support of global efforts to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change.

He also briefed the IAEA’s director general on Pakistan’s ambition to attain the goal of 60 per cent of the clean green energy share in the country’s mix by 2030. Malik Amin added that Pakistan’s efforts to mitigate Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions included the use of nuclear energy for power generation.

Malik Amin also informed the IAEA director-general that the country’s revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), a carbon reduction framework, under the Paris climate pact 2015 envisaged avoidance of around 50 million tons of CO2 equivalent on annual basis by 2030, mostly by replacing coal-fired power plants with renewable, clean energy projects.

The SAPM also welcomed IAEA’s engagement in the global discourse and efforts to combat the climate crisis in line with its primary mandate to promote peaceful uses of nuclear technology worldwide.

Director General IAEA praised Prime Minister Imran Khan's Eco-System Restoration Initiative, which included a programme to plant 10 billion trees across the country.

He acknowledged Pakistan’s accomplishments in the peaceful uses of nuclear technologies for coping with the adverse impacts of the global warming-caused climate breakdown.

During the meeting, the IAEA official lauded Pakistan’s successful development of a high-yield climate-resilient cotton plant by dint of the use of nuclear techniques.

Recalling IAEA’s long-standing relationship with Pakistan, Grossi also stated that he was looking forward to visiting Pakistan in the near future.

“Pakistan is among countries which are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and at the same time an energy deficient country. Our efforts to expand the share of nuclear power in the national energy mix will help the country address this twin challenge,” the IAEA director-general remarked.

He acknowledged the operational nuclear power plants in Pakistan are, in fact, contributing to global efforts for the reduction of GHGs emissions.