Pakistan to seek implementation of loss and damage fund at UAE climate conference

In this file photo, taken on August 27, 2023, flood affected people gather on high ground at a flooded area of Burewala, a town of southern Punjab province. (AFP/File)

• UAE will host COP28 conference from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 which is likely to be attended by 70,000 people
• A Pakistani official says the conference in the UAE is likely to be a ‘turning point’ in climate diplomacy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s caretaker administration announced on Wednesday the country wanted to highlight the necessity of operationalizing the loss and damage fund at the upcoming UN climate conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), beginning at the end of the month, where it also hoped to find energy sector partners.
Last year, Pakistan joined hands with other developing nations at a major climate conference, COP27, in Egypt, calling for a global fund to mitigate the impacts of climate-induced disasters.
Its effort followed intense climate catastrophes like floods, droughts, heatwaves and forest fires, as it pushed affluent nations to help vulnerable countries deal with the increasing “loss and damage” caused by global warming.
The UAE is poised to become the second Arab country after Egypt to host the high-profile UN climate conference, COP28, this year from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.
The event will likely bring together 70,000 individuals, including heads of state, government officials, academics and youth representatives.
“For this particular COP28, things that matter for Pakistan are energy transition and building partnerships around energy,” the country’s climate change minister, Ahmad Irfan Aslam, said while addressing a dialogue on Pakistan’s roadmap for COP28 in the federal capital. “We are also very invested in, and we have worked hard in talking about climate finance as last year we succeeded in the creation of a loss and damage fund, but its meaningful operationalization is still required.”
“Unless this is negotiated proactively, the fund will go down the road like so many prior initiatives that came earlier in time but nothing came of them,” he added.
The minister emphasized the necessity for Pakistan to take internal actions, mobilizing domestic resources to enhance its climate finance capacity more comprehensively.
“Our capital markets are underdeveloped, but initiatives can be taken in time to build a bigger resource pool from which we can generate climate funds and climate finances internally for our own projects,” he added.
Aslam maintained climate change had been ignored for far too long since it had not been a part of our national discourse and did not get the priority or recognition it truly deserved. Speaking to Arab News, Bilal Anwar, CEO of Pakistan’s National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), said the country was at the forefront in last year’s climate conference, adding, “the loss and damage fund was also set up due to its efforts.”
“The operationalization of the fund is a big issue and once again, Pakistan is preparing itself to be impactful, to be forceful and to provide the guidance and the leadership for the operationalization of the fund,” he continued.
Anwar said there were several other important issues that also needed to be addressed at the global climate gathering.
“For example, climate financing is one, technology transfer is another, enhancing the level of ambition of developed countries to arrest the increasing carbon emission levels is yet another,” he said.
“I believe that this COP is going to be a turning point in the international climate diplomacy,” he added optimistically.