Pakistan says will discuss funding for climate change at COP28 UAE

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said on Thursday Pakistan would focus on solution-based discussions at this year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai, including on funding for climate change-affected countries.

The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP28, will be the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference, held from November 30 until December 12, 2023, at the Expo City, Dubai.

In August 2022, torrential monsoon rains triggered the most devastating floods in Pakistan’s history, killing around 1,700 people. Over 33 million people were affected by the floodwaters — a staggering number close to the population of Canada. Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools as well as thousands of kilometers of roads and railways still need to be rebuilt.

Pakistan produces less than one percent of the world’s carbon footprint but, according to the Global Climate Risk Index, is currently the fifth most climate-vulnerable country in the world, having lost nearly ten thousand lives and suffering economic losses worth $3.8 billion due to climate change throughout the years 1999 to 2018.

“Pakistan has been affected by the floods caused by climate change last year,” Jilani said in a pre-conference speech in Islamabad. “Unfortunately, countries like Pakistan are affected by climate change and global carbon despite its minimum share in it.”

He reiterated Pakistan’s “full cooperation” to combat climate change and said it planned to convert 30 percent of vehicles to electric vehicles by 2030

“At this year’s COP28 conference, there will be a discussion on solutions, including funding for climate change-affected countries,” Jilani added.

“We are optimistic about the COP28 conference in the United Arab Emirates this year and hope the conference will yield positive results to tackle climate change.”

Changing seasonal weather patterns, rising temperatures, variability of monsoons and melting of glaciers in the north — compounded with recurrent extreme weather events and natural disasters — are just some of the effects of climate change that Pakistan has been forced to contend with in recent years.

Speaking at the second Pakistan Climate Conference organized by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said on Wednesday Pakistan needed $340 billion to address climate and development challenges between 2023 and 2030. The amount is equivalent to 10 percent of the cumulative GDP during the same period.

“I think we need to be conscious that getting money is a big issue that we face in addressing the climate agenda,” she said, highlighting that seeking money for climate finance undercut other development finance requirements.