Pakistan says ‘about time’ concrete steps are taken to operationalize loss and damage fund

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb this week urged the international community to take “concrete steps” to ensure the climate loss and damage fund is operationalized, warning that countries were falling into debt traps due to natural disasters.
Pakistan joined hands with other developing nations in 2022 at a major climate conference, COP27, in Egypt, to call for the Loss and Damage Fund to mitigate the impacts of climate-induced disasters. While the fund was set up, developing and developed countries have been at odds over questions on which entity should oversee the fund, who should pay and which countries would be eligible to receive funding.
Pakistan’s efforts followed the disastrous floods of 2022 in which over 1,700 people were killed and critical infrastructure was damaged, costing Islamabad over $30 billion after unusually heavy monsoon rains wreaked havoc in the country.
“Loss & damage fund was discussed but it is about time concrete steps are taken to operationalize it,” Aurangzeb was quoted as saying by the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).
The Pakistani minister was speaking during a meeting of the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group, which comprises the finance ministers of the CVF, a dedicated cooperation initiative by economies vulnerable to climate change. The V20 works through dialogue and action to tackle global climate change.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged the international community to ensure a fair deal in assisting developing countries such as itself in coping with the adverse impacts of climate change, warning that loans for this purpose were debt traps or “death traps.”
“There is an urgent need to reform global finance to make debt work for climate,” Aurangzeb noted. “Countries may be getting into a climate debt trap.”
The finance minister announced Pakistan was developing its Climate Prosperity Plan, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said, without sharing its details.
Aurangzeb is in the United States to attend the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings from Oct. 21-26. Leading the Pakistani delegation, he has met counterparts from several countries and senior IMF officials, briefing them about Pakistan’s macroeconomic reforms related to energy, tax and state-owned enterprises.