The climate change phenomenon admittedly poses an existential threat to human beings on earth and the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan is a strong reminder to the world community to make sincere and collective efforts to deal with it before it is too late. It is estimated that the floods impacted 33 million people—the size of three European countries—with more than half being women and children, destroyed over 8,000 kilometres of highways, damaged more than 3,000 kilometres of railway tracks, and washed away crops over four million acres. According to the assessments made so far in terms of money, the losses were well over US$ 30 billion. Pakistan suffered from the man-made disaster even though it contributed less than one percent to the emission of greenhouse gases responsible for orchestrating global warming and climate change. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while informing the participants of the COP 27 Summit about these losses was right on the money to emphasise that Pakistan needed additional funding, not debts, to rebuild a resilient and adaptive infrastructure as the financing gap was widening by the day. He called for climate finance for developing and vulnerable countries. He also thanked the international community for extending assistance to Pakistan to carry out its rescue and relief operations. However, he reiterated that the country had to import wheat, palm oil, oil, and gas besides redirecting its resources to meet the basic needs of millions of flood-affected households. He posed a question: how could one expect Pakistan to carry out this gigantic task on its own?
He deservedly and justifiably emphasised prioritising the Global Goal of Adaptation both in terms of financing and timelines. It is pertinent to mention that it is for the first time that the COP has agreed to formally discuss funding arrangements for loss and damage, as a result of a persistent push by the developing countries under Pakistan’s chairmanship of Group of 77 and China. He undoubtedly made a strong case for the need by the countries responsible for global warming not only to realise their responsibility to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases but also to extend adequate financial and technical assistance to the developing countries who were badly affected by the climate change phenomenon. He was right on the mark to stress that COP was the only platform where the vulnerable countries could plead their case to the rich and the resourced, to build a common purpose for justice, carbon neutrality and a roadmap to crucial policy resets.
The solution suggested by him was what the Secretary General of the UN has been repeatedly emphasising. The prime minister also attended a high-level roundtable at COP-27 on the “Scaling up Action and Support on Losses and Damages—the Global Shield Against Climate Risks”. The event was jointly hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo on the significant topic of Loss and Damage associated with climate change. He appreciated the significance of the “Global Shield Against Climate Risks” initiative, calling for renewed international solidarity and cooperation to address the impacts of climate change. Global warming responsible for climate change is a common challenge facing the world and justice demands that those responsible for it must make the climate challenge a common cause, fulfil their commitments made under the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, and decisions taken at other forums to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, care for the countries which are most vulnerable to the impact of changing climate and fulfil the measures envisaged at COP 26 last year.
It may be recalled that COP 26 had decided to strengthen efforts to build resilience to climate change, curb greenhouse gas emissions, and provide the necessary finance for both. Nations reaffirmed their duty to fulfil the pledge of providing 100 billion dollars annually from developed to developing countries. And they collectively agreed to work to reduce the gap between existing emission reduction plans and what is required to reduce emissions, so that the rise in the global average temperature can be limited to 1.5 degrees. For the first time, nations called upon to phase down unabated coal power and inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels. But according to reports, the implementation of those commitments leaves much to be desired. It is hoped that COP 27 would come up with concrete solutions to these challenges, particularly pooling adequate financial assistance for the affected countries as well as enhancing their adaptive capabilities to mitigate the impact of climate change. The countries that have been affected by climate change also need to take measures on their own to cope with the situation. In this regard greater emphasis on deforestation, growing more trees, and reliance on renewable energy resources instead of energy produced with fossil fuels can greatly help to ease the situation. As for Pakistan, it has taken several initiatives in this regard. There is a full-fledged ministry of environment dealing with the issue of climate change. Initiatives like green Pakistan and the campaign to grow 10 billion trees over a period of five years launched by the PTI government were positive steps though one cannot be sure whether their implementation has been ensured as envisaged or not. For Pakistan solar energy provides the best solution. But again, it needs huge financial resources and consequently, it comes back to the proposition that developing countries like Pakistan must be provided with the financial resources and the technology to implement these measures effectively.