‘World leaders pledge support to PM’s green Pakistan vision’

Islamabad : Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said that the world was fast heading towards climate breakdown if the global community fails to limit temperature rise to 1.5°Cas agreed under the Paris climate pact.

“Achieving the Paris climate goal of limiting warming since pre-industrial times to 1.5°C by the end of the century is not possible as long as the carbon-cutting pledges by the countries through adoption of renewable energy sources for fuelling the economies and sustainable production and consumption patterns are not implemented effectively,” he warned while addressing a post 26th Session of the two-week UN-led global climate summit press conference held here on Thursday.

Malik Amin also urged the rich countries to fulfil a 12-year-old pledge of providing $100 billion a year in financial climate aid to developing nations and ensuring that half of that amount goes to helping poor nations adapt to the worst effects of climate change.

The PM’s aide Malik Amin Aslam led a ten-member high-level official delegation to the Summit, also called COP26, from both the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of climate change. The two-week climate summit, which concluded on November 13 in Glasgow, Scotland Yard, was attended by around delegates from over 196 countries to negotiate a roadmap of implementing the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C by the end of the century and saving the planet earth from devastating effects of the climate crisis.

Malik Amin Aslam told the media, “We also informed the global climate summit participants that by 2030 Pakistan aims to shift to 60% renewable energy and 30% electric vehicles and completely ban imported coal. The global leaders at the conference were also told that Pakistan is already implementing nature-based solutions with our Recharge Pakistan, Protected Areas Initiative, and 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme to mitigate its climate vulnerability while mobilizing its own financial resources,” he added.

He recalled that Pakistan attended the UN climate meeting with a clear vision and agenda – to highlight the country’s heightened level of climate vulnerability and showcase various green and clean programmes and project-related activities being implemented under PM Imran Khan’s vision for clean and green Pakistan. “We saw the huge interest of the global participants of the summit in the country’s green programmes and projects, particularly the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, E-vehicle, renewable energy projects, Recharge Pakistan Programme, Protected Areas Initiative, Green Bonds and Green Stimulus showcased at the Pakistan Pavilion,” Malik Amin recounted. He also said that as many as 25 side events and 50 bilateral meetings with international donor and non-donor organisations were held at the Pakistan Pavilion established at the exhibition venue adjacent to the Climate Summit venue in Glasgow. Effective showcasing of the country’s green agenda, programmes, and projects won massive funding pledges from different countries, Malik Amin highlighted.

Spelling out details, he told the media that the UK government has pledged 50 million pounds and the German government 150 million euros for investing in Pakistan’s green and clean initiatives. Besides, international donor organisations including Asian Development Bank, World Bank also pledged to join Pakistan’s green initiatives with finances and technical support. He also recalled that during country-level meetings with global political and climate leaders, they lauded PM Imran Khan’s green vision and programmes and pledged to extend every possible support as a part of global climate action. Throughout the COP26 meetings, Pakistan’s landmark achievement of reducing carbon emissions by 9 per cent. He said that it highlighted during the meetings and keynote addresses that Pakistan is steadily cutting down on its carbon emissions level as a part of global climate action thanks to various robust green and clean Pakistan programmes, particularly the Billion Tree Tsunami and Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programmes. “During the summit, we loudly highlighted that Pakistan has brown down climate-altering carbon emissions at national level by 9 percent from 2016 to 2020 thanks to particularly massive afforestation programmes,” Malik Amin highlighted. “We also highlighted that Considering that Pakistan is among the countries most affected by the adverse effects of the climate crisis, this reduction, and a further decrease, in emissions will help lessen the impact of global warming,” he informed the media. The PM’s aide attributed the cut in emissions to the government’s world-acclaimed policies and nature- and technology-based initiatives in the field of climate adaptation. He said the government’s focus on nature-based interventions such as the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami and the Protected Areas Initiative had helped mitigate the harmful effects of climate change, and at the same time had opened up job opportunities for the local population. He said that the country’s carbon dioxide emissions for 2018 remained 489.87 metric tons, hoping that the Billion Tree Afforestation Project and the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, once completed and implemented fully, would remove from the atmosphere some 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2040. “The government as a party to the Paris agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has performed its role to support the global efforts in combating climate change. We are elated to submit an updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) which is inclusive and represents national consensus to accelerate the transition to net-zero and a climate-resilient economy,” said the PM’s aide at a press conference here. The current submission showcased progress in climate action that ranged from policy and programmes on nature-based solutions to technology-based interventions, he said.