Financial pledges made at the previous two UN’s annual climate summits — COP27 and COP28 — were yet to materialize: PM Shehbaz
BAKU, Nov 13 (SABAH): Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif highlighted on Wednesday that financial pledges made at the previous two United Nations’ annual climate summits — COP27 and COP28 — were yet to materialise. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the global community to honour its financial pledges to deal with the issue of climate change.
PM Shehbaz Sharif made the remarks during the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, that is being held in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku. The premier presented Pakistan’s case on the second and final day of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit.
PM Shehbaz Sharif asserted that COP29 should “make this understanding loud and clear that we will have to fulfill those financial pledges” committed at COP27 and COP28. “And yet, I think, those huge financial commitments have to be materialised.”
The prime minister said the event was aimed at understanding the “calamities which, unfortunately, some of the countries have already faced and some will if we do not act”.
Referring to the 2015 Paris Agreement, PM Shehbaz Sharif said: “Ten years ago in Paris, we had failed to stop the rise in emissions and catastrophic global warming, and those pledges in Paris 10 years ago, which were made have yet to see the light of the day.”
“As the minus-one emitters, we should not brave the impact of emissions realised by others without even the tools to finance resilience,” he emphasised. “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” the prime minister asserted.
PM Shehbaz further said Pakistan would “go through a renewable energy revolution”, noting that the country last year presented a “comprehensive National Adaptation Plan”.
He continued: “This year, we have developed our National Carbon Market Framework. But we cannot do it alone. Pakistan needs international support to deliver on its climate ambitions.”
“My government has taken concrete actions to deliver on its commitment of producing 60 per cent of all energy from green sources and shifting 30pc of our vehicles to EVs (electric vehicles) by the end of this decade,” he told the summit.
The premier stated that developing countries would need an estimated $6.2 trillion by 2030 to implement less than half of their current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“The same goes for adaption and loss and damage,” he added, recalling the efforts at COP27 led by then-climate change minister Sherry Rehman.
PM Shehbaz Sharif also spoke about the devastating monsoon floods of 2022, highlighting they had resulted in 1,700 deaths, massive displacement, destruction of houses and crops, and $30 million loss to the country’s economy.
He called on the international community “to take measures which are so important at this point in time to have a conducive environment” to combat climate change.
The prime minister stressed that Pakistan was one of the countries that “hardly contribute” to global emissions, yet it was vulnerable to climate change and listed as one of the “10 countries which can, God forbid, face this kind of devastation again”.
“My memories are still fresh,” he said, recalling meeting with flood affectees in Balochistan, including a boy named Ikramullah who had “lost everything”.
“His entire village was erased from the face of the earth, his home was completely demolished, and his school was also submerged. And we had arranged his education to another part of Pakistan,” he said.
PM Shehbaz Sharif stated he would not want “other countries to face the plight Pakistan faced back in 2022”.
Describing Pakistan as a “resilient, hard-working and responsible nation”, the premier affirmed his country was “fully committed to being part of the global climate solutions”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed the hope that under Azerbaijan’s leadership, COP29 can transform into a “finance COP by restoring confidence in the pledging process and scaling up climate finance”.
“I strongly feel that climate finance must be grant-based and not add to the debt burden of vulnerable developing countries,” he said, reiterating his remarks from Tuesday on the sidelines of the summit.
“Two years ago, I warned, and I warned at the top of my voice, that the future would never forgive our inaction. Today, I echo the same,” PM Shehbaz asserted.
PM Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan is a resilient, hardworking and responsible nation and that it is fully committed to be part of global climate solutions.
He said his government has taken concrete actions to deliver on its commitment of producing sixty percent of all energy from clean sources and shifting of thirty percent of its vehicles to EVs by the end of this decade. He said Pakistan is to go through a renewable energy revolution. Last year, Pakistan presented a comprehensive national adaptation plan and this year, it has developed a national carbon market framework. He, however, emphasized that Pakistan needs international support to deliver on its climate ambitions.